


Eye For An Eye

by Smidget



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: AU, F/M, Kidnapping, Romance, Waterboarding, minor torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-06-14 12:16:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15388575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smidget/pseuds/Smidget
Summary: Exactly what the title says. After his father leaves on a business trip and doesn't return, Artemis decides to track him down himself. Where he tracks him to is the People. How he plans to get him back... well, it seems simple to do a swap and trade, until he tries and gets a little more than he bargained for... Obviously A/H.  Semi-AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey peoples! So, this story isn't exactly old, but it's finished, and it's just been sitting in my drive for a while... I've had it posted on FF for a while, as that is my original site, and I just hadn't gotten around to importing it here yet. But people there seemed to like it, so I may as well post it here too. Since it's done, assuming I don't forget, I'll post a few chapters every day here until it's complete here as well. 
> 
> Also, bear in mind: it's not exactly old, but not exactly new, so things may not be as consistent or on-par with my writing now adays. The original version of this was written at least three years ago. It's been edited and revised some, but even that was at least a year ago. So, yeah. There may be some flaws. Feel free to point them out if you see them. 
> 
> Anyway, ignore my nervous blabbering and enjoy!

1.

Artemis was deep in thought. 

The boy was thinking, hard, once more, about a topic he had no control over: his father.

The man was missing. Still. It had been almost a month. Sure, his missions had gone over before, but never this long. Never, had the older Fowl not found some way to contact them, or at least him, to tell them that he was okay, that he was coming back and everything was fine. 

Something wasn’t right. No, it wasn’t even that mild; something was very, very wrong. 

He wasn’t going to sit around and wait around for the trail to go cold any longer, that was for sure. He was Artemis Fowl the second, and he was going to find out what happened to his father. He could, and he would. 

He got up, stretched, then paced down the hall to his father’s old study. It had been sitting bare for this past month, untouched; all his channels were still up, and the very same tabs he had last opened were still sitting open on his laptop. None of it was changed. None of it had been touched since Fowl Senior disappeared. 

Artemis sat down and went through every open tab. It was all nonsense, it seemed; business stuff that the teen had no hand in. He could probably make sense of it, had he really tried, but now he didn’t want to. Unless he traced something back that pertained to it, that could have a possible connection to his father disappearing, it didn’t matter to him.

Next, he went through all the files. There was plenty of nonsense there too, but there was one thing that really caught his eye. It was a single file, but it was large, it was new, and it had been recently opened. In fact… as he clicked on it and an icon at the bottom of the screen extended, he realized it was still open. He himself had minimized it, when he first rebooted the computer from sleep mode.

It was the last thing on the computer that his father had looked at. And, as he knew that the older Fowl usually checked over all his files directly before he left for a business venture, as sort of a double check and a reassurance, Artemis realized that this was, in truth, probably the very last thing his father had seen at the manor before he left. This made him zero in on it all the harder as he glared at the screen, his eyes skimming through every inch of it. 

Some of it made sense, some of it didn’t. The teen didn’t know much about his father’s latest business venture, but what he did know seemed to be mixed in randomly. It was all messed up, and some of it seemed almost incomplete. But no - that wasn’t like Fowl Senior, to have incomplete notes, things changed or missing that shouldn’t have been. It was all there, but... it just wasn’t. 

Again, something wasn’t right. This time, though, it was something he could easily fix with something he did very well: hacking. 

If there was something more ingrained, or purposefully cut out, he had to have a code or file or something saved for it somewhere. Artemis Fowl Senior wasn’t a genius. Something like that would have been near impossible for him to memorize and get down to a tee so quickly. He just couldn’t have done it. So there had to be a way around it in there somewhere… and he intended to find it. 

He leaned back in his chair, cracked his knuckles, and began his search. 

It took about an hour, which was longer than Artemis expected to have to search. Whatever he had been hiding, his father had went to very long lengths, much more so than ever before, to keep it hidden. It must have been big, and important. He must have deemed it something nobody should ever, no matter what, find out. 

Maybe a regular person wouldn’t have found it. In fact, they probably most definitely wouldn’t have. A regular person would have given up long ago - if, that is, they’d even made it this far. He doubted it. He had much more patience, not to mention intelligence, than the average person, and this was only another thing to add onto the ever growing list of things that proved it. 

Once he found the file, it was a simple matter to break through anymore firewalls blocking access to get inside it. When he did, he read it. And when he read it… well, it was an even simpler matter than breaking down firewalls to put the pieces together and figure out exactly what had happened to his father in the most likely scenario. After that, all it came down to was devising an effective counterattack… devising an effective plan. 

And luckily for him and his father, that was exactly what he was good at.


	2. Chapter 2

2\. 

“Make sure you have the harness completely and correctly intact,” her father repeated, once again. “Otherwise, it’s purpose is null and void, and more than likely it will hurt you during takeoff and landing instead of help you.”

“I know, I know,” Holly laughed, batting his hand away. “Don’t lecture me. I’ve graduated, you know. I know these things already!”

The male elf shrugged as he sat in the pilot’s chair again, strapping his own harness into place. He put on his headset and she did the same, leaning back and waiting for the retort she knew was coming. Indeed, it did. “You’ve only just graduated,” he reminded her, shrugging and flipping switches at the same time. “And I don’t care either way. I’m still going to remind you. A little reminder never killed anyone... in fact, I’ve seen the exact opposite before, actually.” 

“Okay!” Holly threw her hands up in exasperation and mock surrender. “You win! Stop lecturing me and fly!” 

Christopher threw his head back and laughed, and Holly smiled. She loved his laugh; it wasn’t rare in itself, but it was rare to hear it so true and full, and commonly. But yet, he hadn’t stopped smiling since he picked her up from the ceremony. The laughter had followed. “Well, as long as I’ve good and won… I’ll let it go,” he agreed affably. “But just because I know my point is already made.” He winked at her and then looked out of the shuttle front again. She chuckled and looked down. 

“Dad?” she asked, after a minute.

“Hm?” He didn’t look over, entirely focused on the chutes around them as they flew. 

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, that.” He grinned crookedly at her and shrugged. “It’s a surprise.”

Holly’s smile faded a fraction. “I hate surprises. You know that. Anyways, if you’re taking me back where we went last time -”

“No, no! Not there this time. We couldn’t go there if we wanted to,” he assured. “I was going to take you to Crete’s Cliff, to camp for the weekend.”

“Okay.. but, what happened?” Holly asked. Last time they’d came to the surface together, he’d taken her through Tara, and, well, there were problems, to say the least. She didn’t want to think about it. But to hear Tara was closed off? Why? “Was there a crime there or something?”

Chris sighed as he looked at his daughter, merely a sideways glance from the corner of his eye, but even he could see she was interested. “You know I’m not supposed to talk about this stuff outside of work.”

“Hey, I’m graduated. Technically I’m LEP now too,” Holly said, putting her hands up again. “So it’s still technically co-workers, at least.” 

Chris stared at her for a second, then shook his head. “My daughter is my co-worker. Oh, Frond, I feel old.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath - a dangerous feat, all things considered, as he was supposed to be piloting and all - then sighed and shook his head again before speaking. “Alright. There was an incident there. But it’s being kept purposely from civilian ears, so don’t tell anyone else,” he added in quickly. 

“Of course not. What happened?” she asked, eager but cautious still. If it was that severe, that it was being kept tightly under wraps, it was important… and dangerous. But yet, still as young and free-spirited as Holly was, it was exciting for her too, in a sick sort of way. 

Chris could sense it. He sighed again, but still answered. “There was a human situation there. He… knew things… and stuff happened.” He held up a hand to stop her from speaking, when she opened her mouth. “I can’t tell you much more. He’s currently being held in custody and we’re trying to figure out what exactly went down, that he knew so much and all.”

“How long has he been in custody?” 

He hesitated before answering. “About… five weeks, give or take a few days?” he replied, clearly slightly unsure from his tone.

Holly gaped. “Dad! Isn’t that illegal?”

He shook his head. “Not technically, but because he’s been unconscious for so much of it, yes.” He paused, and, at her confused look, added, “He’s comatose.”

“Comatose? Why? Hu-ooooow!”

The last part was an explanation of pain - she had started to ask how, only for the shuttle to rattle as he came in for a landing. Preoccupied as she was, she let herself bounce and smacked her head on the panel above her. “D’Arvit,” she muttered, rubbing her head. “That hurt.”

“Language, Holly,” Chris warned, shooting her a look as he freed himself from his harness.

“Oh!” Her hands shot up to her mouth as she realized what she’d said in front of her father. “Whoops.”

“Yeah, whoops,” he muttered, giving her an icy look as he smacked her harness for her, releasing it. Then he marched out without another word. Holly sighed and watched him go, then followed him after a minute.

She barely made it out of the shuttle. 

Her father was standing by the exit, frozen, one hand on the handle of his ever-present Neutrino. 

“What-” she started to say, but he clamped a hand down over her mouth, stopping her in her tracks and effectively shutting her up. 

“Quiet,” he hissed, too quiet for human ears to pick up. He spoke in Gnommish, to top it off, although it was a tad unnecessary. “I heard something. I know I did. Shield, and don’t go anywhere. I’m going to investigate.” And with that, he shimmered out of sight.

Holly breathed out deeply when he let his hand off her mouth and nodded, then shimmered out of view herself. She picked her way across the field, careful not to make too much noise, and stopped, searching around to detect a shimmer in the air that was her father. But no luck; she didn’t see him. In fact, the only thing she saw was… 

Holly gasped.

There was a human across the field. Looking straight at her. But that wasn’t possible… was it? 

She didn’t think so. Until a massive hand clamped down over her mouth and nose. 

Her instincts screamed at her to fight back; her mind told her that this wasn’t possible, so therefore it wasn’t real - no need to panic. Maybe she was dreaming. 

It only took the time for her to feel the needle puncture her shoulder and for her shield to flicker down for her to realize that this was no dream. And by that time, it was too late to do anything about it.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. 

She woke up in a cell. 

Her memory was fuzzy, blurry; things were distorted, and thinking about it made her head hurt. She wasn’t on the shuttle, or at the cliffs, or even at home in her bed, though - that much she could tell. What had happened? She couldn’t seem to remember… but it was bad, she knew that much. 

Her eyelids fluttered and her actual eyes burned. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and she tried to lift a hand to find she couldn’t. Something was keeping her from moving. Weirdly enough, it almost felt… soft. Silky. Strange. 

Suddenly, a voice came to her out of nowhere. Her eyes were still closed, and she was sure she hadn’t made a sound, so it must have been her movement, her weak struggling that had drawn attention to her. She heard the sound of a tongue clicking and a fake sigh, right next to her. “My, Butler, do you see this? The poor dear isn’t even conscious and she’s struggling.” Feathery light and alarmingly cool, something caressed her cheek once before retracting. “Ah, well. That just means she’s well trained. We were right to catch this one.”

There was a soft rustling of fabric as the person beside her stood. “Well, the cameras are on. I suppose I’ll come back down when she wakes, talk to her then. After all, maybe she’ll cough up some information without the aid of truth serum… if she does, it will only turn out better for her.” There was a pause. “Come, Butler. Let us go.”

A deep, gravelly voice answered in grim tones. “Yes sir.”

There was the sound of footsteps following, and a low creaking - a door opening and closing. Soon, it became evident that was the last soon she would hear; they were gone. 

She relaxed a bit, and, after only a few minutes, although it felt like hours to her, she drifted back off. 

oOoOoOoOoOo

The next time she came around, it was easier. She stayed conscious, and she felt relatively better too. The effects of what Artemis had drugged her with - the tranquilizer - had long worn off by now. 

Her eyes fluttered open to see a cold, pale face above her.

Artemis grinned a little, pleased that she was awake. “Hello,” he said calmly, his tone almost conversational. “Good to see you’re awake.” Holly gave no answer, only stared at him, so he continued, “How are you feeling?”

Holly didn’t answer. “Who are you?” she croaked out. Her voice was low and throaty, not to mention weak, but it was the first thing she could get out, and she felt she had used the words well. “What do you want?”

“Oh, straight to business, then,” Fowl chuckled. ”Really, shame. Can’t we just talk a bit first? I’m more interested in you, at the moment.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Holly snapped. She felt braver now; her voice wasn’t cracking so bad, and some of the strength and feeling was returning to her arms. “Anyway, I have a feeling you know more about me than I do about you.”

“True, true,” he admitted, then paused and added, his tone meaningful, “Holly.”

Holly snarled a little and jerked her bonds, but it only served to jerk her back and slam into the wall. Her shoulder snapped audibly. Artemis chuckled dryly. 

“You shouldn’t tug your bonds, Holly. You’ll only hurt yourself. Although, you won’t succeed easily in cutting yourself or getting rope burn from them; there’s some silk beneath the ropes, to keep it from rubbing harshly or biting the skin. If you must, though, you can try.” Fowl sighed mockingly and shrugged. “I’m just warning you, really.”

Holly sighed and fell back against the wall, closing her eyes. She quickly realized he was right… and that she was tightly secure. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Holly swallowed and opened her eyes. “Okay. Who are you and what do you want?” she repeated insistently. 

He laughed. “Stubborn little thing, aren’t you? Well, if you must know… I am Artemis Fowl the Second. And I want my father back.” He quirked an eyebrow at her and smirked. “Good enough explanation for you?”

She licked her lips and nodded. “For now.” She closed her eyes again; looking at him bothered her. She found his penetrating stare unnerving. “Look, I don’t know who or what you think I am, but I’m not what you hear about in fairy tales. I’m a dangerous-... D’Arvit,” she muttered. She had opened her eyes when she felt something cold against her forehead, and she opened her eyes to find it was the barrel of her own gun.

“Oh, yes,” Artemis chuckled. “You look very dangerous right now. Truly. Very intimidating.” He leaned forward, very purposely putting a hand on her thigh and pushing down, putting all his weight on it as he moved slowly but smoothly closer, dragging the gun along her head as he moved. He ended with it on one side of her head against her temple, and his lips on the other side, just below the temple, so he was speaking barely an inch from her ear. “You’re not going to scare me, Holly. I am entirely in control here, and I will do whatever it takes to show it to you. Don’t think that I won’t.” He pulled back and faced her as he spoke. “I know who you are and I know what you are. It’s in your best interests to just give me the information I want and be done with it.” 

Her breathing hitched a little, but she nodded. “What information?”

“About my father.” His breath was warm, and it tickled her nose as he spoke. “Where he’s at, what’s been done with him… as much as you know. And if you withhold information…. well, let’s just say it won’t be pretty. I don’t have to be kind, you know.” 

Holly gulped and looked him in the eyes. She had never mastered the art of hiding her emotions, especially under pressure. On a battlefield, maybe, or a shoot out. But now… no. It wasn’t like the LEP had situations like these that they simulated at the academy. Hostage situations? Yes. Human situations where you are the hostage? Not so much. 

So as she looked him in the eyes, some of her emotions were plainly displayed. But it didn’t matter. She could feel however she wanted to feel as long as the words that came out of her mouth counted. 

“I won’t tell you anything,” she told him icily.

Fowl sighed. “Alright. If you say so.” He stood up. “Just a tip, too, Holly - don’t count on it lasting. Oh, and, pray you have some magic.” With that, and one more nasty smirk, he got up and left her alone.


	4. Chapter 4

4\. 

It didn’t take her long to find out what he meant.

Fowl was serious when he said that she had better pray that she had some magic left, because early on, in around the next hour or so, came the pain.

He tortured her. 

It wasn’t actually him, much to her surprise. Also surprisingly, it wasn’t the guy he had been talking to the first time she’d came round, when she’d regained consciousness on a level but hadn’t actual woken. She was sure of that. Although, she hadn’t actually seen who had done it to her... but she was sure it wasn’t them because the hands and the voices hadn’t added up.

She hadn’t seen them because, originally, she was asleep. The first thing they did when they came in was inject something into her. Again it was her shoulder - the same place they’d put the tranquilizer into. The sting woke her up - but she couldn’t open her eyes. The drug had immobilized her.

A pang of fear shot through her chest at the realization. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t defend herself at all. Although, she probably couldn’t have very well had she not been immobilized, but at least her legs would have been useful - she could have kicked at them, had they got too close. But now she was just stuck.

For a long minute, until the drug kicked in, there was silence. No one moved, no one spoke, and nothing happened. Then, suddenly, she felt it: a feather touch against her cheek, but it was cold, pointed. She heart leapt as she realized what she was feeling was the prick of a knife. 

It was light for about a quarter of a second more, then it bit into her skin, dragging down her cheek and slicing it open. The cut was relatively small, but deep; about an inch long but closer to half an inch deep. She would have gasped if she had been able to move her jaw.

The knife moved around, the touch light again. It smeared blood down her jaw. She could feel the sickly warmth of blood as it dripped down her jaw on her collarbone and gagged as the knife trailed down, clear down, scraping lightly everywhere but not really cutting anywhere else because of her clothes. That was, until it reached her leg, and then suddenly it was inside her leg, almost exactly where Fowl’s hand had been not long before.

This time the drug didn’t hinder her; perhaps her jaw was still frozen, but that didn’t keep her from letting out a bloodcurdling scream of pain as the knife dug in and was twisted into her leg inside the bone. 

Suddenly, it was pulled out of her leg, and it was in her opposite side instead, wedged between her second and third rib. Tears of pain were running down her face by this time; she couldn’t open her eyes to blink them away, and she wasn’t sure if she could have in this amount of pain anyway. Once again, her training still wasn’t suitable for what she was facing in large-scale, real life. 

Then, just as quickly as it all had started, it stopped. The knife was gone, the hands - and just in time, because she could feel herself start to black out; whether from blood loss or pain she didn’t know, probably a combination of both. But it didn’t matter, because she was still gone.

The last thing she heard before it all went dark was the door creaking closed behind them as they left. 

oOoOoOoOoOo

When she regained consciousness again, the drug had worn off, and she wasn’t alone in the cell. 

Fowl was there. And he was leaning right over her. 

Holly gasped and tried to pull back, but she couldn’t. The immobilizing effects of the drug may have worn off, but she was still tied up. 

“Stop,” she mumbled, jerking away from the cool touch on her face. His cool chuckle resounded next to her ear. 

“You stop. I’m only trying to help you,” he said softly, wiping her cheek again and trying to get the blood off her skin. 

“Help me? I think you mean hurt me.” She tugged her head away again, and this time he stopped. “You know, that was... kind of brutal,” she said, slightly afraid that he would get irritated if she brought it up. 

Fowl nodded and looked down. “I know. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind either.” 

Holly narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, right. You don’t have to lie. I know I was being punished, and lying to me about it is just -”

“No,” he interrupted her. “Holly, it wasn’t. I did have it inflicted as punishment, a way to loosen your tongue - but I only said a little amount of knife play. Not gaping wounds, or… the other things they did.” 

Holly’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, the other things they did? Did something happen after I passed out? I thought they left... “

The human shook his head, looking almost pained. “It doesn’t matter. They did leave, and that won’t happen again - at least, not without some very strong provocation.” He paused. “Which reminds me… are you ready to talk yet?”

Holly gave him a disgusted look. “Now especially I won’t tell you anything.”

He sighed. “Oh, really? Why not?” 

“How do you even know my people took your father? For all you know, he up and left. If I had a kid like you, I’d leave you too.”

Fowl didn’t like that, that much was obvious; he closed his eyes and reigned in his temper carefully before speaking again. “He was going on a business venture. It involved your people. It’s fairly safe to assume that even if you don’t have him in your clutches, your people are still to blame for his disappearance. And you should really, really hold your tongue.” He opened his eyes again, and they glinted with steel, but strangely, there was no hint of malice in them, just a slight irritation and a lot of determination. “If you do have him, it’s a simple matter of an easy swap. They give me my father back, I give them their little elf back.” He shrugged and smirked at her. “Quick, clean cut and easy.”

“And what if we don’t have him?” Holly asked. Assuming she was thinking about the right thing, she knew that they did - he was comatose and being held in Haven by the LEP. It must have been the same case her own father had been telling her about on the way up. But still, she had to know. 

“Then your people will find him,” Artemis replied promptly. “And when they do, they will bring him back to me, and it’s the same deal.”

“What if he’s dead?” Holly asked. “Or we can’t find him or won’t give him back? What happens then?” 

Fowl looked her in the eyes. She looked back and forced herself to not swallow or make a sound. “Well, then, they’ll have to cope without their little elf then, won’t they?” he said quietly. “Exactly the same way I’ll have to cope without my father.” 

Holly swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I guess….” she muttered, letting it run off. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, swallowing hard. 

She didn’t expect what she felt next. Much to her surprise, she felt something large and warm cover her good knee, lightly squeezing. She opened her eyes to see him staring at her with an almost sympathetic look on his face. “Don’t worry about that. I have reason to believe your people do have my father, held somewhere, similar to how I have you now in fact. And even if they don’t…” he shrugged. “I’m not much for painful deaths, so it would be quick, at least.”

She was quiet for a minute. “You know I don’t know anything,” she whispered, after a minute. Her eyes flitted up to him and locked on his pale face. “Right?”

Artemis shook his head. “Oh, but you do,” he told her, meeting her gaze sideways. “I know you do. In fact, I’m sure lots of people know something, anything at all; even rumors that have been tossed around and twisted to the point that you probably wouldn’t know where they came from unless you thought very, very hard about them, which I doubt that you have. And I can tell, from your eyes, especially,” he added, tilting her chin up when she looked down again, “When you attempt to avoid my gaze, that you do know something. You just won’t tell me what it is.” He paused, then, almost mockingly, added, “Right?”

Holly just stared at him silently, unable to move her gaze from his, and unwilling to cough up what little information she knew. It wasn’t much, but it was probably more than he knew, and she didn’t want to tell him anything. It would be too much to give in. After all, this was all set up... it would be sort of like a game. And he’d said it himself - he was torturing her to loosen her tongue. He was trying to break her, to get the information he seemed to desperately want... but she didn’t plan to break.

Eventually, he sighed and released her chin, then stood up to leave. Holly stopped her silence then, at least momentarily; there was one thing eating at her that she had to know.

“...Fowl?”

The human stopped and looked back at her. “Yes?”

She hesitated, then said, “The fairy, the other one, who was with me… what happened to him?”

He turned fully around towards her and raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask? If you’re hoping he’ll attempt to rescue you, I promise you it’s not going to happen.”

Holly’s eyes widened. “Did you kill him?” She tugged against her bonds once, her motions almost frantic. “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.”

Artemis cocked his head, thinking. Then he said, “Tell me who he is to you, and I’ll tell you.”

Holly swallowed hard and dropped her eyes. “He’s my father,” she whispered, lowering her head. “Please, I know it’s not right, but-”

“What isn’t? That you care about him? Of course it is. You should.” He turned and went back to the door, and Holly’s shoulders slumped, figuring she’d been cheated and he wasn’t going to answer her. But he paused by the door. “No, we didn’t kill him, merely knocked him out. He’s alive, Holly.” With that, he closed the door and left her alone.


	5. Chapter 5

5\. 

The door to the Operations Booth swung open. Christopher marched in, dirty and ragged but determined.

“Julius. I need a Retrieval team,” barked the male elf, standing by the door with his arms crossed and glaring around the room. 

The Commander looked up at him and frowned, incredulous. “Why do you need retrieval? And I was pretty sure you were supposed to be on the surface for the next two days.”

“I was, before we were attacked by a group of humans,” he replied icily. 

Root’s head shot towards him at that, and, suddenly, the elf was interested. “A group of humans? When? How many?”

“I don’t know how long, exactly. One of them was a monster sized one. One hit and I was gone. On top of it, they drugged me, and they took Holly.” He paused. “As for the number, I only saw two. Considering where we were, it wasn’t really feasible for there to be more hidden around there, but nothing is impossible.” 

Root nodded. “This is the second incident in the span of a month... perhaps its wider knowledge up there now than we guessed.”

“Or, perhaps, it’s someone looking for revenge,” commented Chris. At the Commander’s look, he elaborated, “One of them was a bulky mountain, yes, but the other was even smaller than normal. A kid. Ebony hair, pale as a ghost, twig sized.” He raised an eyebrow. “Description sound familiar at all?”

“Sounds like a minnie of the one we have in the back,” Root said. 

“My thoughts too,” he agreed. “If I may, Commander, I think it may be his child, out to find his father. He’s probably intelligent, to have picked up immediately everything, as he seems to have obviously put the pieces together and made up a plan.” He leaned back against the wall and shrugged. “If you look, his plan is also quite obvious - he’ll exchange Holly for his father. But...”

“But?” prompted Root. He liked Chris; he liked the help he provided, his intelligence, and his work ethic. He had a future, Root could feel it, and he made it a point to give him the chance to show it and realize his potential as much as possible. In situations like these, his theories and quick wit had never proved useless, and most of them turned out to not be too far off. 

“But, anyone ruthless enough to come up with such a plan so quickly may not have many morals. If it’s not bad enough he’s human, and he has the mountain, there’s now that, too. And knowing my Holly, it’s quite likely she’ll fight every movement he makes, which means he might also hurt her. Badly.” He paused. “I say our first priority is finding out his identity. Either way, we find his or we get his father’s, and it leads us one to another. We should be able to get all the information we need from that, including where to go to negotiate.” 

Root’s lips twitched into a small half-smirk, which was a lot for him. “Good?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah.”

“Alright.” Root clasped his hands behind his back, frowning as he went back over to his desk and settled down. Chris immediately followed and sat in the empty chair on the side across from him. “Well,” he began, “I couldn’t agree more, to be honest. I like having someone with their instincts so honed - very valuable, and it saved me the time of doing all that myself.” He shrugged. “However, if you are right, there’s no need for Retrieval quite yet. It’s better to sit and wait it out. I’ll get Foaly on the search for information-”

“Information for what?” asked the centaur. Both elves turned to see him clopping in, a rather large file of papers in his hand. 

“On our guest,” Root replied. “Or his kid. Whichever turns up more.”

Foaly laughed. “Really? I got all that already. You wouldn’t believe what Interpol has on these guys. His kid alone has enough for half a library, and he’s fifteen.” He shrugged. “Mr. Senior in there is worse, though. Closer to a library and a half. That’s almost two libraries worth of info on those two!” He laughed again.

Root whistled, and Chris said, “Well, that explains the size of the file.” He paused. “And, I wouldn’t laugh so much, if I were you. These guys are horrible. One of them has Holly.”

That shut him up. His gales subsided. “Um… what?” he asked, unsure if he’d heard correctly. 

“You heard him,” Root said gruffly. “One of those guys - the son - has his daughter. Holly. You know her.”

Foaly frowned. “Yeah, of course. Holls is my little flower. You said the Fowl boy has her?” His expression had went from mirthful to unduly worried. He went over to his computer and pulled up a picture of Artemis, studied it, and then turned to them. “This guy?”

Root looked at Chris, but the man was already nodding. “Same guy. I saw him clear as day… no mistaking that face.”

Foaly nodded. “I’m sure it’d be hard to forget...” His voice took on a saddened tone as he spoke again. “I wonder if Holly is looking at that face right now...”

Chris swallowed and nodded. “Is…” He stopped when he voice wavered and cleared his throat before he spoke again. “Is there any way to tell?”

Foaly thought about it. “Maybe, maybe. I think we - well, I - might be able to get into the security at his place, Fowl Manor. If he really has her prisoner, then no doubt he’s got surveillance on her…” He paused, minimizing the picture and rapid fire beginning to type, sifting through files and programs and trying to gain access into the manor. “I think there’s a backdoor here. As long as I don’t push too much and try to loop anything, he shouldn’t even know I’m in… if I can get in, that is.” His fingers swept across the keyboard, almost blurry they were moving so fast. 

Chris exchanged a look with the Commander as he watched him. “He’s good at this.”

“That’s why he’s here,” Root grunted, returning to working on his paperwork. Chris chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, nodding. 

“True.”

While the other two worked, Chris watched, fascinated by the numbers flashing across the screen but not understanding them in the slightest. It only took a minute, but eventually, he broke the code.

At that point, neither of the other two men were looking at him. He got their attention very quickly, though, as he finally made it into the security and found the monitor that was on Holly. 

“Uh oh,” he breathed. 

“Uh oh? What uh oh?” demanded Root. He got up and went over to him, frowning as he got a look at the screen. “Ah… D’Arvit,” he muttered. 

Chris started forward. “What? D’Arvit and uh oh what? That’s my daughter, damnit!” He ran up and shoved between them. His eyes widened when he took it what was on the screen. “Oh, hell,” he growled, storming away. “I don’t believe this.”

The screen showed the security on Holly, the view from Fowl’s cameras. They could see her, tied to the wall, and at the moment, unconscious. This time it wasn’t forceful, though - this time, she was just resting, sleeping, and gathering up her strength for the next encounter. Her sleep seemed to be more restful than one would expect, considering her situation. 

But none of that was what was the most surprising, what caused them to become so instantly worried on sight. It was her. Holly was smeared in blood, some of it still seeping from the wounds in her side and her leg - both of them were unmistakably big, nasty holes, and if one looked close enough, they would be able to see the red marks from the serrated edges of the knife on her skin around the wounds, both of them. The wounds had left her soaked and covered in dried blood. And her face… well, Holly had felt the deep cut that served as the underline to what was on her face; what she didn’t feel was the pattern that the actual blood had been made above it. 

For on the side of her face, directly above the deep cut and written in her own smeared blood, was one word: Fowl. 

Chris was instantly on the other side of the room, swearing under his breath and cursing Artemis in a dozen languages. Root was after him in a second. “Chris, stop,” he ordered, grabbing his officer by the arm and spinning him around. “We-”

“Don’t tell me to stop!” raged the elf, ripping his arm from his boss’s grasp. “Did you see that? Did you see what he did? He defiled her! He used her own blood and engraved his name into her skin! That sick bastard! I ought to go up there and kill him!” 

Root sighed. “Look, I couldn’t agree more, but that’s not the point. Our first step has to be to wake up Fowl Senior and see what we can get from him. Before Fowl Junior contacts us, and we have to put him off and risk hurting Holly more.” Root looked him in the eyes and forcefully said, “Okay?”

Chris stared at him, his jaw clenched. “Fine!” he shouted, throwing his hands up. “Fine. But when we go to negotiate, I’m going with.” 

With that, he turned and ran out, slamming the door behind him. 

“Uh, Commander, you might want to stop him,” Foaly said quietly. 

“Why? He’s entitled to be -”

“No! He’s going to want to see this,” Foaly insisted. “Get him. Now.” 

“What?” The Commander walked up, looked over his shoulder and then winced and nodded. “Okay, yeah, I’ll go get him.” 

“Good,” muttered the centaur, turning on the recorder. “He’s going to want to see this.” 

Fowl was back.


	6. Chapter 6

6\. 

“Holly.” Fowl’s voice, softer and kinder than she’d heard it before, but still just as insistent, coaxed her into consciousness. “Wake up.”

Holly groaned a little, her eyes opening a little and then closing. Half asleep as she still was, and unused to hearing him speak like that, she confused his voice for that of someone else. “Dad?”

He chuckled. “No, Holly. It’s Artemis Fowl, remember? Wake up, now. We need to talk.”

Remembrance and pain flashed across her face as her eyes opened. “Yeah… right. About what?” she asked, stifling a yawn in her shoulder. He chuckled a little and shrugged. 

“About my father, of course.”

Holly sighed. “Look, please - I don’t know anything about your father. You’d have been better off for information with my dad than me. You’re not going to get anything from torturing me, or pestering me, or anything else you care to try.” 

“Oh?” 

“Oh, yeah, Mud Boy.” She yawned, unable to hold it back this time. “Can I go back to sleep now? Please?”

“Oh, of course. You’re free to go back to sleep any time you’d like.”

“Thank you-” she started to say, but stopped when he kept going. 

“We’ll just continue this conversation when you wake up, after the pain starts curling around in your abdomen. Maybe then you’ll be forthcoming with information.”

Holly gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. “You’re joking, right? What do you mean?”

Fowl shrugged. “Well, that’s what holy water does to fairies, right? I’d just assumed you’d want the cure as soon as possible as so to not have to go through unnecessary pain, but apparently I was wrong.”

“Holy water?” Holly whispered. “You put holy water in me?” 

He shrugged. “Maybe.” 

“Why? You stupid human. You’ll never get information from me now! You’ve as good as killed me!” Holly gasped, horrified. “I don’t know how you did it, but that’s sick and cruel. I thought you didn’t like painful deaths?”

“Well, how I did it, my dear elf - it’s simple really. Look here.” He pointed to her bound arm, strung into a prone position above her head. There was now an IV inserted in the vein. At the moment, there was nothing attached to it, but it was still there, ready and waiting to be used. He smiled a little at her acknowledgement, and he saw the realization in her eyes. “Yes, that’s where it went in,” he admitted. “It could also be where I administer the cure... if you agree, that is.”

Holly’s head snapped back towards him. Slowly, she had just started to resign herself to her fate, but now… “You have a cure?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t give away her nervousness too much.

“Well, yes, I do,” he said pleasantly. He knelt beside her and pulled a vial from his pocket. “And I’ll happily administer it.. if you agree to it.” 

“Why wouldn’t I agree to it? Or, better yet.. what did you do to it?” she demanded.

“Smart elf! Good girl, the correct question on the first try.” He chuckled. “See, Holly, it’s just sort of a double check. This little elixir right here -” he flicked the bottle, “-is exactly what you need to survive. It will counterattack the holy water. The catch, is that it is mixed with sodium pentothal, more commonly known as truth serum.” He shrugged. “Again, it’s simple, really. You get to live, and I get any information you might have about my father extracted without any further pain to you.”

“Okay,” Holly said, slowly, chewing it over as she spoke, “And what if I say no?”

“Well, as stupid as that would be... I suppose you could.” Artemis sighed. “If you deny the sodium pentothal, Holly, then I will leave you to suffer the pain of the holy water until the very last possible minute, and then I’ll simply administer the cure anyways, and we continue the course of action we were on. I have a... special session planned next, if you refuse.” His smirk was absolutely vampiric. “Now. May I administer the cure, or not?”

Holly took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could already feel the beginning of pains in her side, shooting through her organs... ugh, no, she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. Forgive me, Frond, she prayed silently, then nodded. “Fine, administer the sodium pentothal. I won’t tell you anything anyways. I don’t know enough for it to make a difference to you.” 

Artemis grinned. “Great. I figured you’d make the right decision.” He stood up and uncorked the vial, promptly screwing it into the IV tube and letting the liquid run down to her veins. “There. All better. Oh, and Holly?” 

She looked up and frowned. “What?”

He leaned down and brushed his lips across the tip of her ear, smiling. “You’re a good girl,” he said, mockingly, and then stood and walked to the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, when that kicks in, and then we’ll talk.”

Holly nodded and rested her head against the wall. Her stomach was doing little flips; not from the holy water, but from nerves, and probably at least partially because of the chemical mixture Fowl had just poured into her veins. And of course it probably didn’t help that not only was there sodium pentothal and the cure in that vial, but he had also mixed in a touch of sedative - not enough to knock her out, but enough to make her drowsy and ensure that she wouldn’t remember any of their interrogation when it wore off. As much of that as she’d already had in her system lately, it might have had an effect. 

Fowl came back down about ten or so minutes later by Holly’s count. He sat down in front of her, cross-legged, and watched her with curiosity. “Time for a little test,” he muttered, then louder, “How do you feel?”

Holly blinked a feel times and shrugged. “I’m guessing you mean physically, so I’ll say fine, considering I don’t think you actually care anyways.” 

Artemis cocked an eyebrow. “Well, well. Someone is very honest under the influence. I’ll keep that in mind.” He paused. “But, on a serious note, really: how do you feel?”

“Mentally or physically?” Holly asked. She was leaning back against the wall, her eyes closed and her shoulders relaxed. Another effect of the sedative, another plus: it made her feel more relaxed, which meant even without the sodium pentothal he might have gotten something out of her. 

“Technical too, apparently,” Artemis noted, smirking. “Both.” 

Holly frowned. “Well, whatever you put in me - I can’t pronounce it - is making my stomach flip. I’m kind of nauseous. And thirsty. As for emotionally… do you want to get into that? There’s a lot going on up here now.” She shrugged a little bit. “I’d tap the side of my head to make a point, but my hands are tied.” 

He swallowed a little. She was bolder and more honest on the serum. Strange. “No, let’s stay out of that for now. Maybe after. Now, let us get to business, shall we?” He took a breath and said, “My father. What do you know?”

She sighed and thought about it. “Okay...I don’t know who your father is. I’m guessing that would be who my dad said the LEP was dealing with.”

Artemis frowned and raised an eyebrow. “Dealing with?” he repeated carefully, the question clear in his voice.

She lifted her hands the best she could in mock surrender. ”Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t know. My information is limited. I only know what my dad told me in the shuttle on the way here. I know that Tara was closed down because of him, and that he is comatose somewhere in Haven, presumably one of the police holding cells. But that’s it.”

“That’s it?” She really knew so little information? He might have saved his serum and gotten the information from the negotiators when they came. Of course, it was a little more than what he had known - now he knew where he was - but still, it wasn’t much. “That’s…”

“That’s all I know,” Holly replied. “I told you I didn’t know anything.”

“Oh, hell,” muttered the human. “I might have saved my serum had I known that you knew that little.”

Holly giggled a little and shrugged. “If you would have believed me in the first place, we wouldn’t have had that, would we?”

“If you would have told me what little you knew in the first place, more like,” he retorted, standing up. 

“Wait! I thought you were going to stay until it wore off!” 

The human paused next to the door and looked at her. “I never said that.”

“But...you did say...oh, forget it,” she grumbled. “It’s not even worth arguing over. You’ll probably just torture me for as much as I’ve already said anyways.”

Artemis frowned at her, wavering in his resolve. After a minute, he said, “You know that’s not true.”

“Right,” she muttered. “Hardly. Whatever. You know, I find the constant lies and mind games really annoying already, and I haven’t even been here that long.” 

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you think that I’m playing at, but it’s simple: I’m not messing with your head. If I wanted to mess with your head, I could be doing things a lot differently than I am now. Consider yourself lucky, and that’s all I’m saying.” With that, he whirled out the door, irritated, and slammed it shut behind him. 

Holly stared after him in wonder. “Get what you get,” she muttered, then proceeded to lay back down and close her eyes. After all, when you’re in captivity and so tightly under wraps, there’s not much else to do but sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

7\. 

Fowl was pacing. 

He couldn’t believe she actually had so little information about his father. Maybe she was right and he would have been better off if he had taken her father hostage instead... But no, she was proving helpful enough; just because she lacked information didn’t mean she lacked value. He would bet anything that her father did have the information and knew that she did not, which meant that he would be all the more frantic to try to get her back. That meant that he was would be working all the harder and his negotiators would arrive here sooner.

He stopped pacing when he saw something on the monitor. The door had opened to the cell… but Holly was still tied to the wall. “What the hell?” he whispered. “No! I didn’t…. Oh, what the hell.” He ran towards the door. 

It was his guards coming into Holly’s cell. And they were coming to torture her. 

oOoOoOoOoOo

Holly woke up in an entirely different position than she’d been asleep in. In fact, she was in the process of being moved when she woke up, and that in itself had been what woken her.

The first thing she realized was that she was moving, but there was still pressure on her hands. It couldn’t have been her binds, though - it was hands, holding on to her wrists. She was free... for the moment. But she wouldn’t be much longer if she didn’t do something, fast.

She started struggling. Amazingly, she managed to get one leg free. At first she and the people holding her leg were in shock. She hadn’t actually expected to be able to move - after all, last time they had been here, they’d drugged her so that she couldn’t. But this time they obviously hadn’t yet, and she took advantage of it. 

Using the leg she’d freed, she kicked, knocking one of the men holding her square in the nose. He gasped and fell back, holding his nose. Then, with her body swinging down, she used the leverage to flip herself back up and barely clipped one of the ones holding her hands on the side of the head. He quickly let go. 

There was two more than were unscathed. Both of them dropped her as she moved then, sliding from their grasp. Unfortunately, what she didn’t count on was the fall. They dropped her all right… straight on her head.

For a second, all she saw was stars. Then she started moving again, attempting to crawl away blindly, but by then they all were recovered and caught her, and she was virtually blind as they grabbed her again and hoisted her up and into position. For what? Well, she wasn’t sure either…. until she felt the towel fall over her face. And then she panicked. 

They were going to waterboard her? Was Fowl nuts? The last time she’d seen him… Well, she couldn’t seem to remember all of it, but he hadn’t really seemed so cruel then. Manipulative, yes, but he hadn’t been cruel. And anyway, hadn’t she agreed to what he’d wanted? She gave him his information, so what could she possibly be being punished for?

As soon as she started struggling, the grips on her arms and legs tightened, and her limbs were pulled out and stretched to the point it was painful. Holly screamed. What was this? Why was he doing this?

There was a sloshing sound and a quiet curse, and then suddenly, she felt the water, very lightly, start to pour down in a small, steady stream onto the towel. Her breathing sped up. It was soaking through, slowly down on her face, ready to smother her…

Holly screamed again and tried to thrash, but their grips were too tight. She didn’t move half an inch. By now, it had started to completely soak through, and she felt some of the wet cloth cover her mouth. She gulped and then closed her mouth quickly. She heard of waterboarding. The LEP had it mandatory for certain things to be learned, if not by experience, then at least having knowledge of them. She’d had to do a report on this particular subject… now, she wasn’t sure if she regretted that she knew what was happening, or if she was glad that she did. Either way, she was still panicking, and what was worse than the actual waterboarding was the claustrophobia. Highly claustrophobic as she was, the darkness and the feeling of the towel being soaked on top of the fact she was pinned, were enough to set off the feeling. 

And yet, just as the towel was getting wet enough to suffocate her, and she really started to panic and feel like she couldn’t breathe, she heard it: the sound of the door slamming open.

“Stop!” 

It was Fowl’s voice, much to her surprise. But he was ordering them... to stop?

The flow of water did slow, for a second. And then it picked up. Suddenly, she was completely doused, the wet towel sticking to her face like a second skin and making it impossible to breath around the few different layers of wet cloth. She didn’t know why until she felt the bucket bump her head too; that idiot had dropped it!

“I said stop!” Fowl barked. “Now! Drop her!”

They did, quite literally. And for the second time in several minutes, Holly hit the hard cement floor and starting seeing stars...until she fell unconscious a few seconds later, from both lack of air and the blow. And the last thing she felt was the wet towel clinging to her face, suffocating her slowly, and the cool floor beneath her back.


	8. Chapter 8

8\. 

It was almost a half an hour later when she woke up. The first thing she saw? Once again, Fowl.

He saw her, too, when her eyes opened. Her eyes started to widen, but before she could squeak out a word he clamped his hand over her mouth. "Don't scream," he ordered. "Just relax. I'm not here to hurt you. Don't scream."

Holly nodded against his hand, so he let go. She was still wet; her hair was dripping at the ends, and though he had wrapped a dry towel around her shoulders (not the one they had used to waterboard her, thankfully), she was freezing and shivering, her lips slightly blue from cold. "How... How l-long has it been?" she chattered.

"Only about a half an hour," he replied. "Though, you're lucky it wasn't longer. You have a nice bump on your head - a few of them, actually - and I think your wrist may be broken, which is why you do have some pain meds in your system and your bonds are different." He nodded to her arms, which she now noticed were tied differently - there were ropes on her forearms instead of her wrists now. 

“That’s… nice of you... but I don’t understand,” Holly said, slowly, as to force the words out around chattering teeth. “Why did you order them to waterboard me and then stop them? That doesn’t make sense.”

He shook his head. “No, Holly, you misunderstand. The waterboarding wasn’t what I had in mind. Well,” he corrected himself, a bit awkwardly, “It was, but not anymore. That was only for if you didn’t cooperate, which you did. I suppose they just misunderstood...but I didn’t really clarify that they weren’t supposed to do it anymore, so it is my fault, too, I guess.”

Holly stared at him. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand; she did. She was just in shock. “So you’re saying… I was tortured because of a misunderstanding?” she demanded.

The human winced. “Yes, unfortunately, that is exactly what I am saying.” He lowered his eyes. “Look, Holly... I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” she cried. “Seriously? Is that all you’ve got? The pain and suffering I just went through, and my claustrophobia, and all the injuries I have now, and all you can say is sorry? That’s it?” She was half-shouting by the end of it, but her voice was cracking; now he could tell exactly what she was feeling, since her lower lip was trembling and she was rapidly blinking back tears. “That’s all you can say for this?” she whispered. “Any of it? Sorry doesn’t fix it, Fowl. It doesn’t fix any of it. It won’t fix what happened, or change it. It won’t heal me or erase the memories of this. And it certainly won’t bring your father back.” Her voice cracked again. “It doesn’t bring me any closer to going home, either. Only you can do that. And Frond knows you won’t.”

Artemis gave her a stern look and frowned. “Now, you know that’s not true. I told you, I will let you go home as soon as I get my father back. In the meantime, this is your home.” He gestured around the cell, making his point, but not well - not that she cared. It wasn’t a good point to make, anyway. 

Her voice trembled when she spoke, filled with a mixture of fury, sadness, and passion. “This will never be my home,” she snarled. “No matter what you do to me, I will never, ever accept any place but Haven as my home.”

“I didn’t ask you to, and I wouldn’t. As I said, this is only temporary.” He sighed. 

For a few minutes, they lapsed into silence. Artemis was staring at the wall, deep in thought, and for a moment, when he heard her, he thought he’d hallucinated. But then he looked down at Holly, and, with a softening gaze, he realized he wasn’t crazy, and she actually was crying. 

“Oh, Holly...” he groaned softly, but she didn’t hear him over her sobs, even as soft as they actually were. Staring at her for a second, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his knife, leaning towards her again as he flicked it open.

Holly gasped when she saw it and curled back in on herself, pressing her body against the wall and as far away from him as possible. “Don’t!” she pleaded thinly. “Please! I-I’m sorry.. I shouldn’t have kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t anymore, and it just seemed like a good time -”

He pressed his hand over her mouth again. “Stop, Holly. I’m not going to hurt you. The knife is for your binds, okay? Just your binds.” He waited until she nodded, then used the knife to undo the knots in the ropes on her wrist. She dropped as soon as they fell off, and he caught her, pulling her into his lap and laying her down across it despite the fact she was wet and a sobbing mess. 

“Shh...” he murmured in her ear, cradling her gently and trying to calm her down. “Relax, alright? Just relax… Calm down.” He brushed her wet hair away from her eyes and rested his forehead against hers, softly beginning to hum a sweet lullaby that he recalled from his earlier years. 

Whether it was the lullaby, his soft words, or just the fact that she ran out of tears, eventually she stopped crying. But she still laid in his lap, allowing him to hold her, and after a while not a word was said, and there was no sounds until finally, Artemis spoke up again.

“Are you okay now?” he asked, his voice soft and soothing still despite the fact she was calm now, almost as if he worried the sound of his voice would upset her again. “Feel better?”

Holly sniffled and looked up at him. “Honestly? Not much, but... it did help a little bit.” She rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes. “Thank you for that, though. I really did need that… even if I probably didn’t deserve it.”

Fowl shook his head. God, was the guilt eating at him. But what could he really do? He was doing what he could, all that he could, without giving up the operation at this vital stage. He took a second to gather himself and force down the guilt before speaking again. “No, Holly. Don’t speak like that. You did deserve it, and if there’s anything at all that you didn’t deserve, it's what I’ve put you through since I brought you here; the torture, and all your injuries, and the emotional pain…” he stopped and winced. “I know it still doesn’t make it better, but I’m still sorry.”

Holly’s eyes opened. “I know. And… it does help, even if it doesn’t change anything.” She leaned up, and, almost hesitantly, pressed her lips against his cheek in a soft kiss before lying back down in his lap. 

He swallowed down his shock and stared at her. “What was that for?”

Her face turned red. Suddenly, it seemed to hit her what she just did. “I… for a thank you,” she explained, her voice weak. “Just something to remember me by...and to remind you in the worst of times that even for all your posturing, you’re not as evil as you pretend to be.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her, but couldn’t hold back a small chuckle. Some part of him noted that his composure was slipping, but he couldn’t care less at the moment. “Oh really?”

She blushed deeper. “Yes.”

“Well then,” he said, slowly, a mischievous light in his eye, “If you really believe that, I know a better way you could show me than a kiss on the cheek.”

“Like what?” Holly asked curiously. For all her posturing, as well, she really was an innocent young woman - and even as pretty as she was, she had next-to-no experience in love or even at flirtation. It always went right over her head. 

“Like…” he leaned down, so his face was barely an inch from hers, and smiled just a little. “...this.” Very slowly and gently, with almost no force at all, his mouth came down over hers. 

Holly first reaction was a gasp. Then, after a second of the barest hesitation, she kissed back, opening her mouth and allowing him to kiss her, too. It was a full minute before he drew back and they both were able to breathe again, but with the return of oxygen came the realization of exactly what the two of them had just done.

Holly gasped again, but this time wasn’t idle, throwing herself out of his lap and into the furthest corner she could, pressing her small form against the wall to get as far away from him as possible. She gulped and closed her eyes before speaking, still breathing slightly ragged. “You just kissed me.”

Artemis nodded, eyeing her warily. He was a bit shocked by his bold actions too, but he couldn’t say he regretted them. He could still taste her against his lips. “Yes,” he conceded quietly, after a moment. “Yes, I did.” He paused and watched her. “Are... are you okay?”

It seemed almost ridiculous to ask, but he realized it was probably wise to anyways. 

She blinked rapidly, seeming to think about it, and for a moment Artemis thought she might break down again. But then she shook her head. “I..” She hesitated. “I think I’m fine. Except for the fact that now I’m almost certain I have Stockholm Syndrome.”

The human couldn’t hold back a laugh at the look on her face. “Well, if you’re not a hundred percent certain yet, I could arrange to make sure you are, but I assure you - and my judgement can be trusted, if the fact that I have several degrees in this area myself is any indication - that I can see that you most certainly have Stockholm Syndrome. But,” he added quickly, when he saw the look of mortification on her face, “it’s nothing to worry about. It will wear off the second something horrible happens and you decide you hate me again.”

Holly’s brows drew together. “But...what if that doesn’t happen?”

“Right,” snarked the human. “Like you won’t decide you hate me again in less than an hour.”

She reached out and smacked his chest, then winced and drew back quickly as fear and pain set in. Her instincts told her to do that, as self-defense mostly as she knew she couldn’t win with words, but no doubt that had probably made him mad, and mad meant punishment. Plus, she had forgotten about her wrist, and smacked him with her bad hand, hence the pain that had just shot from her wrist clear up her arm on impact. She hissed and withdrew, cradling her injured arm against her chest. 

Artemis frowned deeply at her and reached for her arm. Holly flinched and cowered. He sighed, letting his hand drop as his eyes closed. “Holly, I’m not going to hurt you. Just let me see your wrist.”

Holly gulped as her eyes flicked over his face, and then slowly extended her arm towards him. “Good girl,” he murmured softly, grabbing her arm and pulling it towards him. He studied her wrist for a moment and nodded. “Yes, now I can see that I was definitely right. You’re wrist is broken.” He looked up at her and then back down at her wrist, then into her face again. Slowly, still looking into her eyes, he lifted her arm to his lips and kissed her wrist tenderly. 

Her eyes were wide as saucers. He chuckled and pulled back, releasing her hand, laying it back in her lap easily as so not to hurt her. “I’m going to go get my bodyguard,” he said, standing up. “I can diagnose, but I can’t fix anything too serious - he can. He’s very good with medication. I’ll bring him down and have him fix you up, okay?”

Holly nodded. “Okay... A-Artemis?”

He looked at her and inclined his head. “Yes?” 

“Um... thank you,” she said quickly, averting her eyes from his. “For… this, and everything.”

Artemis smiled a little at her obvious awkwardness and shook his head. “You’re welcome, Holly. Now, please - lay down and relax until I come back, okay?”

She nodded and laid down again, watching him silently as he exited. She put her head back against the wall and shivered once, sighing, and closed her eyes as she settled in to wait.


	9. Chapter 9

9\. 

 

Buzz. Buzz. 

Chris’s eyes opened slowly, and he looked down at his buzzing hand with irritation. He was sleeping, now, though he probably shouldn’t have been, considering he was still at work. 

He had refused to go home after his daughter’s kidnapping - no way. He needed to stay here and get as many updates as possible, as fast as possible. Anyways, if he was being honest, he wasn’t sure if he could bear to go home and face his empty house. It might just be too much, and he couldn’t afford to get overwhelmed right now.

Chris rubbed his eyes, then answered the communicator. 

“Hello?”

“Chris.” It was Foaly’s voice, low and worried. “Get back to the Ops Booth, stat.”

“On it.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

“What’s up? What have we got?” Chris demanded, not even waiting for the door to slam closed behind him. 

“More footage,” Root said grimly. “And it’s not good.”

Root looked like hell. He was obviously tired, with huge, dark bags under his eyes and for once a form that wasn’t completely straight and rigid. His shoulders were slumped down, and he was leaning heavily against the wall as if he couldn’t hold his own weight anymore. Chris raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Show me.”

“Come here.” Foaly beckoned him over and pointed to his padded chair. “Sit down.” 

“Sit?” Chris asked warily. “Why? Is it that bad?”

“It’s that bad,” Root said tersely. “Just sit down, shut up, and watch, Major.”

Chris sat, slowly, sighing and looking tiredly up at the screen. He swallowed down the fervent, persistent fear and guilt that kept threatening to rise in his throat and chest, and lifted his eyes to the screen. 

Holly was there, still tied into position on the wall. Her body looked rough, and she was unconscious, but it couldn’t last - not with Fowl standing over her. 

“Holly.” Fowl was speaking, softly. His tone wasn’t quite kind but it wasn’t cruel, and the hidden motive behind it was clear to decipher. “Wake up.”

Chris’s hand twitched toward his gun when her eyes fluttered and she groaned. “Dad?”

“Bastard,” he hissed softly. Root coughed into his hand, but Chris didn’t look at him. He only had eyes for the screen.

He couldn’t believe the boy actually had the nerve to laugh at her. “No, Holly. It’s Artemis Fowl, remember?” His tone took on a less amused edge. “Wake up, now. We need to talk.”

“Pause it!” Chris demanded. Foaly did, and he spun around to look at Root. “How does he know her name?”

“How should we know? Maybe she told him.” Root shrugged. “Foaly hasn’t traced the footage back that far yet,” he explained.

Chris nodded and turned back around. Foaly unpaused it without having to be told.

Holly was speaking. “Yeah, right. About what?” she asked around a yawn.

Fowl chuckled again. The sound put Chris’s teeth on edge. “About my father, of course.”

Her eyes flashed with irritation as she sighed at him. “Look, please - I don’t know anything about your father. You’d have been better off for information with my dad than me. You’re not going to get anything from torturing me, or pestering me, or anything else you care to try.”

“Oh?” His voice was low, dangerous. Chris felt his heart cinch. Something bad was coming. 

“Oh, yeah, Mud Boy,” Holly snapped at him. Chris flinched. She yawned. “Can I go back to sleep now? Please?”

“Oh, of course. You’re free to go back to sleep anytime you like.” Holly started to speak, but he couldn’t decipher what she was saying over Fowl continuing to speak overtop of her. “We’ll just continue this conversation when you wake up, after the pain starts curling around in your abdomen. Maybe then you’ll be forthcoming with information.”

“What?” Chris shouted. He was on his feet in an instant. “Stop! No! Commander, you understand what that means, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Root said. “He gave her holy water.”

“She doesn’t see it,” Chris said, staring at the screen in wonder and disgust. “He poisoned her and she’s not even sure with what.”

“She’s about to find out.” Foaly nodded at the screen. “Look.”

Fowl shrugged at her with sickening nonchalance and said, “well, that’s what holy water does to fairies, right? I’d just assumed you’d want the cure as soon as possible as so to not have to go through unnecessary pain, but apparently I was wrong.”

“Holy water?” Holly’s voice was barely a whisper, pain and surprise obvious. He could only imagine what was going through her head just then - not that he really wanted to. “You put holy water in me?”

Fowl shrugged again. “Maybe.”

“Why?” she demanded. “You stupid human. You’ll never get information from me now! You’ve as good as killed me!” She stopped for a second, as if trying not to choke, and when she spoke again her voice was softer and almost defeated. “I don’t know how you did it, but that’s sick and cruel. I thought you didn’t like painful deaths?”

“When did he say that?” Chris asked, looking at Foaly briefly. “I want to see where he tells her that.”

“Later,” Foaly said. “I haven’t traced that far back yet.”

“Well, how I did it, my dear elf,” Fowl was saying, “It’s simple really. Look here.”

Chris’s eyes followed his gaze and his finger, to where he was pointing up at her arm. For a minute after that, he ceased listening, staring at her arm and the tube that was now sticking out of it. “Oh, no,” he muttered, rubbing his face. “No, no, no.”

Foaly came up and put a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Chris. I know how much this must suck for you - Holly means a lot to all of us. It’s not boding well with any of us to see her like this.”

He took several deep breaths and nodded. "I don't know how much more I can watch. Does she live? Or did the bastard let her die?"

"No," Root said firmly, finally finding his voice and speaking up. "She lives. He cures her and puts some chemicals in her system - she told him everything under the influence." 

"She didn't know much."

"I know." Root came over and stood behind him. "She only knew the little bit you told her. It's not enough to do anything major. But I bet the Fowl kid contacts us somehow soon enough. He's gotten all he can from her - now he's going to want to get rid of her."

"What about our guy?" Chris asked, not commenting on the last few statements. He didn't want to think about how Fowl would get rid of her. 

"Still comatose. The medics diagnosed it as heart problems. They gave him a small shot of magic to boost him around - he should be waking soon."

"Right." The Major nodded. He looked at Foaly. "Can I get a copy of all this film? I want to see all of this, but I have more work to do."

"No you don't."

"What?" Chris growled. He turned the chair slowly, allowing Root time to move back so his knees didn't get bumped. "With all due respect, there's no way in hell I'm leaving." 

Root shrugged. "Fine then. Stay. Be more sleep deprived. Miss negotiations. Your choice. I just figured you'd still like to go up and have a slight chance of seeing her before I'll undoubtedly have to kick you out for being a hothead." 

"I would have thought I was too personally involved in the first place...." he started to say, but trailed off when Root held up his hand. 

"You're undoubtedly my best senior officer, Christopher. I'll look past the fact that Holly is your daughter if you will." 

Their eyes met and locked. Christopher nodded. "Deal."

They shook on it. Chris turned to Foaly. "I guess I'm going home for now. Give me the tapes for studying later." 

Foaly nodded and headed towards the controls, then paused halfway. "Commander. Do we show him that now or let him watch it himself?"

"Watch what?" Chris demanded suspiciously. 

"No." Root turned to Chris. "You can have a copy of the tapes on account of the fact that you're resting now and won't have time to do something stupid or rash. Do not, under any circumstances, do anything stupid after you watch the tapes. Are we clear, Major?"

"Yes sir," he agreed readily. "But, ah... Do I want to know what he's talking about?"

"No. Now leave," Root said curtly. "Go rest."

Chris stared at him for a second, then nodded. He rose to his feet and saluted, then turned, took the tape Foaly offered him, and left the office. 

"Do you think we should have told them they kissed?" Root asked Foaly as the door shut behind him.

"Nah. Poor guy is probably better off finding out himself," Foaly replied. Root nodded in agreement.

They went back to work. 

oOoOoOoOoOo

He went straight home and put the disc in the player. However, he did not watch it immediately.

He was stressed and tired, but he didn't feel like lying down and sleeping. Well, technically he did, but he refused to. He showered and put on a pair of sweatpants and a nightshirt, but didn't sleep - he prepared some food and went back out then to watch the video, a plate of pasta in his hand. 

He only realized too late that that probably wasn't the best food idea. Luckily, though, he didn't hit any gruesome scenes while he was watching - well, nothing bloody, anyway.

He sat down on the couch, which suddenly felt way too big for just one person, and stretched out to fill the void of space. He picked up his remote and flicked "play".

The video resumed automatically from the point that it had been stopped at before. He didn't mind - he rather wanted to hear what had went down anyway. 

There was a few fist clenching, teeth grinding moments there at first, with the end of that scene. Holly under sodium pentothal was rather funny, for a few moments. And then anger set in, and the scene changed to just the wrong thing. 

"Holy Frond."

His jaw had dropped open. He saw them come in with the bucket and the towel and lost his voice for a second as waves of hatred and disbelief simultaneously swathed him. No. She gave him the information, so why? Why hurt her? Waterboard her, no less. He couldn't understand it. It made no sense. 

Indeed it didn't. And his confusion only worsened when Fowl came in and ordered for them to stop it. 

She'd been so close to escaping for a minute, so close to getting out of it. If only she weren't already drugged and injured. If Fowl was a little bit stupider, and Holly in a little better shape, it'd be over by now. But he wasn't, and neither was she. It was hardly fair, and his heart ached at the sight of her now even more broken body unconscious on the floor. Her screams echoed in his mind. Splayed out, soaked, broken and unconscious. It was horrible. 

He watched as Fowl's guards file out and Fowl himself came over and knelt down, pushing two fingers against her throat to feel for a pulse. He was visibly relieved when he found it, and lifted her with little difficulty and brought her back over to where he formerly had her and carefully tied her back up. Chris noted that the ropes now bound her forearms instead of her wrist. Why would Fowl do that? Did Fowl see something he hadn't?

He didn't have time to ponder it, because just then his communicator rang. He paused the movie and answered it, this time not hesitating. 

"Commander?"

"Major. Get up and get going, and meet me at the shuttle port in 30. It's time for us to go negotiate."


	10. Chapter 10

10.

 

"Thank you."

The mammoth bodyguard looked at her very briefly, then looked back down at her bare leg, which he was wrapping, bandaging after he had cleaned it. He cut the piece of bandage and clipped it, then reached up and gently ruffled the young woman's hair. "Not a problem. Just let that leg get better, and no more fights with people that you can't win against," he advised in his deep, gravelly voice.

Despite herself, Holly giggled at little. "Okay." 

Butler got up and left. Artemis nodded to him on the way out the door, then came back over to sit beside her. "Alright. Your leg's been bandaged, your side's been bandaged, and your wrist is splinted. That's about all I can do for you now. Unless you'd like something of mine, I don't have any dry clothes to fit you, but yours should dry fairly fast. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you."

"Okay," Holly mumbled. "I guess." She was more than a little uncomfortable; she'd had to strip off her wet clothes to get bandaged up and warm, which only left her in her one piece. Under Artemis's prying eyes, it felt odd, almost as if she were naked instead of having only minimum cover. 

Artemis's lips curled up a little. "Would you like one of my jackets, Holly?" 

"Maybe," she admitted. "But not if it'll cause a problem later on." 

"It's no problem," Artemis chuckled. He rose and turned to the door. "I'll go get you one."

He went out and headed to his room. He grabbed a jacket from his closet and started to head back down towards the basement when the sound of the doorbell ringing echoed over the sound speakers through the house. 

He froze, and, knowing he was closest to the door, went to answer it. There wasn't many people it could be, and he had a guess as to who it actually was - and he was right, too.

"Well, well," he chuckled dryly. "I admit I didn't figure I'd get a whole committee for negotiations."

Chris and Root were both outside the door. Chris was standing slightly behind his commander's shoulder, but he was not too far back, and his eyes narrowed when he saw Fowl. But he said nothing - he had his orders. 

"It's not a committee," Root said calmly. "Even if it was it wouldn't matter. We're here to negotiate, so let's go negotiate."

"And I'm just supposed to believe its safe?" Artemis snorted. "Right. One of you probably has a weapon hidden up your sleeve, I'm sure of it."

"I don't," Root said. "Chris?"

Christopher said nothing for a long minute. Then he huffed and slid a knife from his sleeve. "There. That's all I have. I wasn't stupid enough to bring actual weaponry."

Artemis took it with his signature vampire grin. "Thank you. And, ah.. You're the fairy from the site, are you not?"

"Yes." He spat the word through a clenched jaw. "I am."

"Holly's father."

"Yes." It was quite, tense. How did he know that? he wondered. 

"I see." Artemis stared at him speculatively, then stuck his knife in the pocket of his suit and turned. "Follow me, then. And don't do anything stupid. If I don't return, my butler will kill your daughter without batting an eye." 

Chris clenched his fist and crossed his arms. "Understood," he said tersely. Root looked at him warningly, but nodded. 

Artemis lead them up to his study. He hadn't been banking in them coming so soon, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It just meant he'd get his father back all the sooner. 

He gestured around the table. "Sit. Anywhere is fine."

Root sat opposite of the human, and Chris at next to him. He clutched the armrests tightly, glad to have something to dig his nails into. Artemis just glanced over him once, then looked at Root. "Am I correct in assuming you're the superior?"

Root nodded. "I'm the Commander, yes."

"Good." Artemis paused. "Am I also correct to believe you have my father?" 

"Your father is safely secured in Haven," the elfin man replied, sitting back and staring at the human with his arms folded over his chest. "He's comatose at the moment. Has been since he was secured." 

"Why?"

"Complications after being stunned. Apparently his heart didn't react well, so the medics are keeping him sedated until he's returned to complete stability." Root shrugged. 

Artemis's eyes narrowed. "Really? I'd like to know who stunned him."

"Me," snapped Chris, sitting up in the chair. He glared at him. "Problem?" 

"There'd be a problem if it was your daughter who was comatose from such a thing, wouldn't it?" Artemis replied coolly, but the steeliness in his gaze gave away his true emotion towards the statement. 

Chris glared, then tilted his head and conceded. It was true, even if he didn't like it. "Fair enough. But while we're on the topic of my daughter, why don't you tell me about her? You know about your father; I should know about my daughter."

"Touché." Artemis smiled, but there was no joy in it. "Shall I go get her? I suppose it wouldn't hurt for her to be present." 

Chris inhaled sharply and glanced at Root. His gaze was pleading, but also understanding. He wanted him to say yes, but if he said no, he wouldn't contradict it. 

Root sighed heavily and gave him a half hearted nod. It probably wasn't the best idea, not for peaceful negotiations, but he knew that both Holly and Chris would be reassured by seeing each other at least, and he needed them both in as good of a healthy mindset as possible. He looked over at Fowl. "Fine. Go get her."

Artemis rose and headed towards the door. For the first time, they both noticed the second jacket hanging over his arm, but neither of them said anything, preferring to wait until he was out of the room and their earshot. 

"Wonder what the jacket's for," Chris mused softly, almost to himself. Root shook his head.

"I don't know. But I do know that you had better be on your best behavior. You can't show Fowl too much weakness towards her - this is business," he reminded him sternly. The Major nodded.

"Of course, I understand. But I can't be too detached, on the same note. If he believes that I don't care for her at all then she's useless, and good as dead."

Root had to fight back a smile as he nodded. Christopher always brought it out of him. There's that brightness again, he thought with grim humor. 

The door opened again, and a slightly limping Holly walked in, accompanied by Artemis and a mammoth of a human. Neither family member could be bothered to notice, though - Holly's eyes lit up when she saw him, and he immediately rose when her eyes met his. 

"Daddy!" 

Holly dashed toward him, mindless of her limping and hurt leg, and launched herself into him. He was ready for it, and caught her with ease. His hand immediately slipped into her hair, the other cradling her back, and he kissed her head and squeezed her tightly. "Oh, Holly," he sighed, glad to feel her back in his arms again safely. 

Holly clutched him like a lifeline. Bravado aside, fear had swam through her system constantly the past day or so since she'd woken in Fowl's basement, and seeing him brought back some serious stability and relief. Her eyes welled up of their own accord. "Dad, I.."

"Shh," he insisted, pushing her off slowly. He wiped her eyes with the pads of his thumbs and sighed heavily. "Don't worry. You'll be fine, okay? That's what we're here for." 

"I know. It's just so good to see you... It feels like forever," she whispered. 

"I know, baby, I know." He ruffled her hair again and glanced at Fowl. He was watching them with quiet interest, obviously sizing up their bond. Chris swallowed down the fear that rose in his chest at the sight of Fowl's knowing look and the smirk he shot his way when he caught him looking at him. He raised an eyebrow, but Chris just narrowed his eyes, unwilling to take the bait. "Go back over to Fowl, Holly, before he gets trigger happy from anxiety," he murmured. "I'll talk to you again before we leave, I promise." 

Holly nodded. She hugged him again, briefly, a parting squeeze, before walking slowly back over to Artemis. The human looked at her pointedly and gestured back towards her father. "You're not going to sit with him?" he asked, lowly.

"You're giving me the option?" 

"Don't do anything stupid, and I have no problem with giving you the option," Artemis replied. 

She stared at him, wide eyed, looking for a trap in his words. "I.. I don't know. What do you consider stupid?" 

Artemis's lips curled up a bit, but he forced himself to keep a mostly straight face and shook his head. "Just go sit down, Holly."

She flicked her eyes to his a last time. There was something about his demeanor she could sense, it was off, but she didn't know what it was. She halfheartedly reached for his hand, but he jerked it away. "Sit," he hissed softly.

She flinched, but did as he said, walking back over and sitting down beside her dad. She pulled her chair over to his and hugged his arm, laying her head into his shoulder. He brushed a bang out of her face. "You okay?" he whispered.

"Fine. And before you ask, yeah, I'm allowed to be here." She sighed and snuggled into his shoulder. Chris met Root's eyes, and the Commander shrugged a bit. Chris looked back at Artemis.

"Alright, Fowl. What do you want?" he asked, his hand absentmindedly stroking Holly's hair as he spoke. 

"Simple." Artemis shrugged and looked between the the two men. "My father for your daughter." 

"You won't get your father back until after he's awakened from his comatose state and has been questioned," Root told him. "Procedure. You're lucky we don't take you in too."

Artemis narrowed his eyes. "I dare you to try. None of you will leave this room alive if you do." His eyes flicked to Holly, whose eyes had shot open at his statement, but they didn't linger. He wouldn't show signs of weakness towards her now, he couldn't. 

Chris looked down at her too. Suddenly, he could feel the IV in her arm pressing into his skin acutely. He twisted a little and looked at it, brushing his finger over the small attachment gently. Why was it still in?

Fowl caught the movement and rolled his eyes. "Leave her damned IV alone," he snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously, matching the edge to his voice. Chris froze, and so did Holly. 

"Ar-" she started to say, but Chris cut her off. 

"Don't tell me what to do, you psychotic bastard," he snapped. "I wasn't planning on taking it out anyway." 

"Chris," Root warned, at the same time Holly whispered, "Dad..."

Artemis almost growled, his eyes narrowing again as he and Chris glared at each other. They glared thunder clouds at each other for a long minute before Artemis snapped, "Holly. Here. Now."

Holly started to rise, chewing on her lip nervously. She could see this wasn't going well, and knew exactly what would happen next: if they didn't stop now, one of them surrender, then he'd hurt her. He'd have to. 

Unfortunately, her father saw it too. 

"No." He grabbed her arm, standing when she did. "Don't move."

"Holly." It was an actual growl now, low and threatening. His patience snapped, and he met her fear filled eyes, knowing full well the implications. "Now."

"No," Chris growled. 

"Chris," Root snapped. "Let her go."

"He'll hurt her."

"Your own fault. Let go, or I'll have your badge."

"Dad," Holly pleaded thinly. "Please."

Chris closed his eyes and let go. Slowly, he sank back down in his seat. Holly walked back over to Artemis, her body shaking slightly. Artemis pushed her into his seat and moved to stand behind it without looking away from Christopher. The gun he'd stuck in his belt before going to get Holly pressed into the back of her shoulder, and she swallowed audibly. 

"Well done," Artemis said icily. "You managed to ruin the limited freedom I was trying to grant her for negotiations. I suppose I'll stop attempting to be kind, then." He looked straight into Root's gaze. "As of right now, I'm giving you seventy two hours from the time you exit my manor and on. Return my father to me by then, or the next contact you get from me and last contact you get from her will be the delivery of her body at the nearest magical site and whatever may come with it." 

"Better hope he doesn't return to you dead," Chris muttered. Artemis fixed his icy gaze back on him. 

"Return my father to me dead, and I'll torture her and prolong her death as long as possible. In that case, I may even tape it out for you to see," he said coldly. "Don't think I won't."

"Believe me. I know you will. I've already seen what you did to her already," the major snapped. 

"Did you now?" Softly, threateningly, he placed a hand on Holly's shoulder. "How did you manage that?"

"Dammit, Chris." Root glowered briefly at his officer, then looked at Artemis. "Your security isn't as secure as you seem to think it is, Fowl. A friend - a tech savvy operative who works with us - managed to break in. Nice and easy. We saw all of it."

"Foaly," Holly gasped. 

"Who?" Artemis hissed, by her ear. She opened her mouth to answer but stopped when he just interrupted, "Tell me later." 

"Well, I hope you're satisfied with your misdoings. When your poor daughter suffers later for it, you'll be very happy, I'm sure." He grabbed her by the collar and pulled her up. "In fact, she'll be going now. As will I. You've heard my terms; all has been done that needs to be. Now leave my grounds, and don't return unless you're delivering my father with you. Butler," he snapped, looking at his bodyguard, who had been quietly sitting in the corner, "Show them out, if you please."

He turned to leave, dragging Holly behind him, and then paused by the door. "Oh, and Christopher? I think it would do you good to find out exactly who you're dealing with, and then look at your daughter's place in all this. You should know that there's many, much worse things I could do to her than put her to death." And before Holly's eyes could even properly widen, he pushed her out the door and then followed her. By the time Chris made it to the door, Root by his side, Artemis and Holly had disappeared.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I.... have no excuse, particularly for this story because it's already finished. I'm just busy at the moment with senior year and work and things. I'd say it'll get better, but for a while it will likely get worse, so... yeah. Sorry.

11.

 

Artemis dragged Holly out of the conference room and up the stairs, his pull on the collar so tight he was practically choking her. But he didn't stop, pulling her up and up several flights of stairs before finally stopping several flights above the main floors and pushing her in a room. 

"Go," he growled, slamming in the door behind him and turning to key in a code. 

"I-"

"Shut up," Artemis barked at her. He typed in a long string of numbers, then turned back around and grabbed her, pushing her down into a nearby, albeit dusty chair. 

"W-where are we?" Holly asked, coughing a little at the dustiness. Despite the danger she could sense, her need to assess her surroundings overruled any fear she may have felt. 

"My great-grandfather's old study." Artemis looked briefly around, then met her eyes again. "I used to use it as a hideout when I was younger. I remade the code. It's a mashup of several important family dates." 

"Nice." She swallowed down the lump in her throat and looked at him. "So why come here now?" 

"I needed to move you to someplace else that was secure, that I wouldn't have to monitor, as obviously the basement is no longer safe. This place is abandoned but secure." He shrugged. "Moderately more comfortable as well." 

"Anywhere is uncomfortable if I'm still tied up," Holly muttered, but the saddened edge to her tone took the bite out of the sarcasm in the comment. Artemis sighed and sat down on a chair beside the desk, looking at her with a guarded but still kinder expression. 

"I don't have to tie you up now. This place is more secure than the basement, and you would never be able to guess to code for the main lock, let alone somehow get passed the scanner, the key, and the deadbolt." 

"S-scanner?" Holly's eyes widened. "There was no scanner when we came in." 

"It's been disabled," Artemis said, smiling a little at her, though it was even less joyful than it had been before. If anything, it looked a little wistful. "I'll reinstall it when I leave." 

"And you're not now." 

"No. Not yet."

"When, then?" 

"Soon. But not yet." He stood and walked back over to her, leaning down and placing his arms on either side of her, on the chair's armrests. His eyes were unreadable, but the emotion hidden beneath was obviously intense. They flicked over her face, taking in her look, and then he sighed. "I'm sorry, about how the negotiations went. I wouldn't have brought you up if I had known how... uncivilized your father would act. Although I suppose I should have guessed." He closed his eyes, briefly, and shook his head. "I overreacted a bit."

"So did he," Holly added, quietly. "It's not all your fault, Artemis. You couldn't have known that-"

"It doesn't matter," he interrupted. "None of it does anymore. I've set a time frame, now, although it probably wasn't wise. I've as good as killed my father - and therefore you."

"No, you didn't. I don't think Root would kill him now. They're interested and what he knew and how he knew it. He has to be alive for that. And I'm too closely ingrained into the LEP to just let go." Her eyes locked with his when he opened them. They burned with fervent need for him to see and understand. If he didn't... Well, she was terrified enough, and he was irritated. It would be easy for him to make a rash decision that would hurt her now, and that he would regret later.

"Artemis?" she whispered, quietly, when he didn't answer. He had been staring off at her, obviously deep in thought. 

"What?"

She looked a little embarrassed at his absent minded tone, dropping her eyes from his. "I... What did you mean when you said there were things you could do to me that would be worse than killing me?" When he just stared at her, she rambled on. "I mean, obviously you were thinking of something, but I don't know what you would think that would be worse than that." 

"There's plenty I could do to you that would be worse than killing you," Artemis replied with another shrug. "But I'd rather not talk about it at the moment."

"Why?" 

"Because." He stood and walked a little away from her this time, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "I'm not in the mood anymore. For any of this." 

"But-" she protested, but he stopped her again. 

"But nothing!" He turned on her and seethed. She finally was able to see them emotion he'd been masking: fury. "Nothing, Holly. Just go to sleep or something. Before you make me change my mind about fulfilling my threats to your father." He headed to the door.

"You're leaving again?" She couldn't keep the whine out of her voice. He was the only company she really had now, and he kept leaving her. "I don't care if you torture me," she whispered. "Please don't leave."

He paused mid step and glanced back over his shoulder at her. "I'll be back. I'm just going to get my computer to use the reboot software for the door scanner." His voice was softer, kinder, and she felt relief blossom in her chest as she exhaled deeply. 

"Okay."

"There's a loveseat in the corner." He stopped with his hand on the knob and nodded to it. She glanced over and noticed it for the first time. It was smooth, dark, soft and furry looking; probably custom made. "Go lie down. I'll be back, alright? I promise." 

She did, walking over and lying down as he walked out. It seemed to her like all she did now was sleep, and yet somehow she was still always exhausted. Weird, she thought, as she laid down. She pillowed her head on her arms and sighed. She planned to lie down and just relax until Artemis came back up, but slowly, after a few minutes of him not returning, she dozed off. 

Artemis finally returned several minutes later. Butler was with him, carrying a hot, covered tray of food and a portable table. He set it down beside Holly, silently, and put the food on it, then left. Artemis set his laptop down also and dragged over the chair he'd put her in earlier so he could sit near her as he worked and she slept. Taking off his jacket, he draped it over her small body and then returned to working and waiting for her to wake up.

It was several minutes before that happened, but eventually the smell of the food made it from her nose, to her stomach and her brain and she was pushed out of unconsciousness. 

She rolled over and yawned once, then, sleepily, her eyes opened. She moaned a little. "Artemis?"

He glanced over at her, then back at his computer. "I'm right here, Holly."

"Oh." She blinked blearily at him and sat up, wrapping up in his additional jacket. It made a nice blanket. "I, um... I think I fell asleep... I hope you didn't need me for anything." 

Artemis looked over at her. She was staring at him, her tiny frame wrapped in his black jacket, her eyes huge and hazel. Having just woken up, they seemed larger, taking up most of her face. The rest of it seemed almost consumed by the markings of his name on her cheek, which, as he had discovered when he tried to clean it off, wasn't just written in blood, but had also been lightly scratched into the surface of her skin. He sighed at her and closed his computer. 

"There was nothing that I couldn't do while you were sleeping," he assured her with a shrug. "So anything security-wise that you may be referring to is done."

"I see," she murmured, looking down and pulling the jacket tighter around her. Her leg was aching and so was her side; her face, more than anything else really, just itched. She laid down on her back and watched him. "So, um.. What were you doing then?" She was trying desperately to make conversation, but she wasn't sure what she could really ask him. All things considered, asking him something little or stupid like "what's your favorite color" seemed pointless and would most likely be awkward. How do you make casual conversation with your kidnapper and not have it be awkward? she wondered. 

"It's nothing important," he said nonchalantly. "Not to you, anyway. Business."

Curiosity sparked in her eyes. "Like what?" She stopped, and then suddenly another thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me you have other people taken hostage around here somewhere." 

He laughed a little, although the accusation probably should be more irritating than amusing. "No, just you. Most of the ventures I do any other time are out of Ireland." 

"Oh. I guess I should feel special, then," Holly muttered. He chuckled and stood, walking around the makeshift table and settling on the arm of the loveseat. 

“Well, there’s no question of that,” he chuckled, leaning back against the seat and folding his arms over his chest. “Aside from the fact that you’re the only person, currently or ever, that I’ve had hostage, you’re also the only person that I’ve ever kissed.” 

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, curious. “Really? Why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really know. I suppose you’re the only person who’s really attracted me like that.. even if it is under bad circumstances.”

“You think I’m attractive?”

Artemis stared down at her and quirked an eyebrow. “You sound surprised.”

“I just never would have guessed… I mean, torture and all that aside..” she quirked a shoulder awkwardly and frowned a little. “No one has ever called me attractive before either. Or kissed me, for that matter.”

He laughed softly and shook his head. “Are you serious? I don’t believe it.”

She blushed. “It’s true. I-I wouldn’t lie… you know that, right?”

Her voice trembled a little at the end. Artemis frowned at the sudden outbreak of fear in her tone. “Of course. I just didn’t understand how no one had ever told you that you were beautiful before.. that has nothing to do with this, though. Holly, are you afraid of me?” he said, softly. It was the only thing he could think to explain why she got so fearful so quickly. 

“What? No!” she snapped quickly… too quickly. He frowned at her and narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to slip back into his icy exterior for a moment, though he was finding now it was easier to relax around her than not. 

“Oh, really? So this,” he leaned down on her, slowly, being mindful of the places she was hurt but still quite purposefully pinning her down so that she couldn’t move without hurting herself, and so that she could see the tip of his knife poking out of his shirt pocket right above her face, “this doesn’t scare you? Me being on top of you, this close, with you pinned.. it doesn’t bother you at all?”

Holly recoiled slightly, the best she could in her current state, and he followed her. “Why are you flinching away if you aren’t scared?”

Holly gulped audibly, her eyes flicking from the knife to his face. “I.. I am scared… especially after earlier.” She swallowed again and inhaled deeply, fear showing in her eyes quite boldly. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lie, I just.. I didn’t want to say yes either and have you use it against me.. you were already talking about torture and everything else and I just didn’t-”

He sighed and shook his head, which she didn’t see because she had closed her eyes, then leaned down and kissed her deeply, effectively shutting up her babbling. She made a soft “mm” sound against his lips, taken by surprise, but immediately melting into it. That was a much better response than what she had feared. 

He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue between her lips without attempting to ask for permission and wrapping his arms around her back, pulling her flush against him, although not with enough force to cause anymore pain in her side. He did feel the soft throbbing against him, and it vaguely caught his attention, but he didn’t comment on it, too lost in her to care right then. 

Holly attempted to wrap her arms around him too, but found it pinched when she bent one. The IV was still in. She reached up with her free hand and grabbed his hair, tugging lightly to make him pause. He pulled back unwillingly. 

“What, Holly?” he asked, panting a little, but unable to suppress a sigh. 

“Why did you leave my IV in?” she asked, sticking out her arm for him to see where it was still inserted in her vein. 

“For further use,” he murmured, shrugging and nuzzling her neck. “Can I go back to what I was doing now?”

“What kind of further use?” she whispered. He sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“I don’t know, Holly, but it’s easier to leave it in than have to put another one in if it’s needed, isn’t it?” he said exasperatedly. 

“Yeah… I guess,” she murmured, her brow furrowing a little. “But I still don’t like it.” 

“We’ll deal with it later,” he assured, and then gently pulled her up into his lap and held her against him. He kissed her again, sweetly, then just hugged her to his chest. She didn’t complain, although she did wince once at the pressure on her side. “Why does this feel so right when we both know that it’s wrong?” he mused aloud. 

“I don’t know,” Holly murmured. She pressed herself closer against him, despite the pain. “I don’t care, though. Just don’t let go yet.”

He sighed and kissed the top of her head, then laid his cheek against the top of her head. “Okay,” he said simply, despite his reservations, and closed his eyes. Together, they dozed back off like that, cuddled up in each other’s arms in the loveseat of his great-grandfather’s old office.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

 

Chris and Root were flying over the Dublin sky, back towards the shuttle port in uncomfortable silence. Chris was fuming. Root, by comparison, was unusually calm, considering how easily he normally got angry. He was, probably inappropriately, rather amused at his officer’s expense.

“Well, I told you your temper would get us kicked out eventually,” Root commented. Chris shot him a dirty look before looking away again. The commander swallowed an inappropriate smile. “Come on, Chris, relax. At least she was okay.”

“Okay?” Christopher thundered. “Like hell was she okay! Did you use your eyes? She had bandages on her leg and her side and that bastard had needles and tubes in her veins! His name was scratched into her jaw! That is not okay, Julius!” 

"Could've been worse," Root sighed. "I understand your frustration, but think, Christopher. You're a bright officer. You should have known how well she was - you saw the videos. And snapping on an unstable villain is never a good idea. Now you've effectively cut our timespan to work down to three days." 

Chris lowered his eyes and looked away. "I know," he said quietly. "I just... Snapped, like you said. I'm not very good with this, not with Holly at risk." He closed his eyes and tried to pull himself together. He was still shaken, extremely so, and he didn't like it. He also didn't like the knowledge that he'd left his daughter with that monster. What is he doing to her now? he wondered. 

Root sighed and shook his head. "Chris, I understand. Believe me, I do. There's a reason I usually remove officers who are personally related from cases. However, I knew you'd like a chance, despite my better judgement on giving it to you, so I did, on account of how good of an officer you usually are." He paused when Chris opened his eyes. "But now…well, you know what I'm going to say, don't you?"

"Let me guess. On account of my behavior, which violated several rules and regulations out of the book, you don't have any choice but to remove me from the case so that it can continue effectively and without further hindrance from me," Christopher stated dryly. His tone finally had a little bit of humor returned to it, and his lips curled up; a welcome change to his earlier tone. The thunderclouds on his brow lifted a bit. 

Root fought a smile too, forcing himself to stay professional in the moment. "Exactly," he agreed. He couldn't help but be slightly relieved at having that weight off his chest. 

Major Short shook his head. "Frankly, I was surprised you didn't remove me instantly. I won't protest now. But just promise me you'll keep me updated. She's still my daughter, Julius."

"Wouldn't dream of doing otherwise," the Commander replied. 

"Good." Chris smiled a little and turned the wings, dropping to a slightly lower altitude before looking back up at his boss. "So what now?"

"Now?" Root looked down at him raised an eyebrow. "That's simple. Now we go wake up little Fowl's dear daddy and do some good old-fashioned interrogating." 

Christopher grinned. "Sounds good to me," he agreed. His eyes glinted as he looked back down at the approaching shuttle port site and swooped down for a landing. Root shook his head once, then followed him silently.


	13. Chapter 13

13\. 

Artemis Fowl Senior's eyes opened to a room full of little people. 

Well, maybe that was a bit of an overstatement; the room wasn't full of them, and they weren't exactly little people, he knew. They were fairies, and there was three of them: two appeared to be elves, and the other one was quite obviously a centaur. 

He pushed himself up a bit, unsurprised to see himself in an unfamiliar set of handcuffs. Fairy technology, he thought, testing the bonds gently. It was easy to tell they weren't coming apart. Whatever they were made from was durable and strong.

He dropped his hands back into his lap and looked up at his captors, who were in front of him, watching him closely and with wary eyes but still not quite within arms length. He laughed a little at their expressions and leaned back against the solid rock wall - presumably concrete, but he had no proof of that - and eyed them back before speaking. "What is this, the welcoming committee?"

One on the far left, a young man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes that were almost black with anger grumbled under his breath. Fowl recognized him as the officer who had apprehended him, and consequently took sadistic pleasure in seeing his clenched fists tucked beneath his crossed arms. "You sound just like Fowl," he spat, clearly irritated with his cool demeanor. 

Said demeanor, of course, didn't last long at the mention of his son. Fowl sobered up immediately and sent a daggering glaring his way. "You talked to my son?" he demanded, his tone icy but otherwise deadpan. "I can't imagine why. He has no part in this."

A man to the right of the former, in between the other and the centaur spoke up then. He looked remarkably calm in comparison to the other two, and stared at him with an assessing, wary gaze. His eyes, too, were almost black, but with no emotion identifiable in them it was safe to assume that his eyes were probably always that color. "He didn't, previously, until he apparently decided to avenge your disappearance and took one of our own in response. We just got back from negotiations." 

"Negotiations?" Artemis Senior laughed, a half muffled sound through the hand he was using to rub his temple. "Well, well, I suppose I should have known. My son was always something else." He paused, and then deeper meaning finally registered to the statement. "Wait a minute. He realized I was missing... how long have I been gone? As for him, you say he kidnapped someone? I..." He hesitated, blinking and shaking his head. "I actually don't know what to say to that." 

"You've been gone for roughly a month in human time," the one on the far left answered quietly, and though his face with still twisted with anger, his voice was quiet and tightly controlled. The other elf throw him a harrowing glare that silenced him. 

"What my utterly insolent officer says is true," he said as he turned to face Fowl again. "You were gone about a month, and so we believe he came looking for you. Whatever information you had on us that apparently lead you here must have done the same to him once he got his hands on it. Now he's captured-" 

"And brutally tortured," added in the other elf.

"Christopher, shut up," he snapped. "You're lucky you're here in the first place, don't ruin it." 

Christopher sulked back but went mute with a murmur of, "Yes, Commander."

The Commander hissed out a breath and looked back at Artemis. "He's right. Fowl did torture her, on top of holding her hostage against her will for several days now. He's effectively waterboarded, stabbed, drugged, and poisoned her in the short timespan she's been in his care."

Artemis sat back, rubbing his temples but still listening and watching attentively through narrowed eyes. "Why? I don't understand his purpose... If I could talk to him maybe I would, but only then, and that would reveal whether this is all true, as well."

At that, the Commander's face went blood red, and Christopher's jaw tightened visibly. "You think I'm lying?" he spat. "You really think I would lie to you about what he's done? How ridiculous. Foaly, go get the tape and bring it for Mr. Fowl to see. It's probably something better witnessed through his own eyes anyways."

The centaur, Foaly, moved away. He exited the room quickly and mostly quietly, with the exception of his hooves clacking behind him. The Commander waited until he left, then turned completely around to face Fowl. 

"So," he said softly, a menacing underlayer to his tone, "While we're waiting on Foaly to come back with that, let's talk business. How did you find out about us?" 

The older man shrugged awkwardly. "It wasn't exactly easy. I had a run in with a business partner, one who knew vaguely of you, and he made a comment about something regarding you. I don't remember the exact wording, but it set off a trigger in my head, I suppose you could say. So I dug deeper. Eventually, through about six months of heavy work and research, I located one of your own. An exile." Fowl shifted and crossed his arms, quirking his right shoulder again. "She told me everything I wanted to know. From there... well, I'm sure you can guess the rest."

The Commander glared at him for a minute, scrutinizing him, no doubt assessing him and trying to decide if he could be believed. Suddenly, Chris spoke up again. "Sir," he said, slowly, his gaze flicking between Artemis and his superior, "if I may say, I don't think that adds up. Even an exile of our own, bitter as they sometimes get, wouldn't have sold us to a human. It would take-"

"Incentive?" Fowl broke in with a small smirk. "Yes, I know. Strong incentive, as it is. You may not have guessed, but I had some, believe me."

"Just believe you?" Christopher grumbled. "Hardly. You're crazy, human." 

"And you're insolent, from the mouth of your own boss," said Fowl coolly. "And while we're on the topic, who are you, anyway? A Commander is one thing to deal with; you, on the other hand, are completely another."

Chris's face contorted in barely-controlled anger. "You-" he started, but the aforementioned commander cut him off. 

"Shut up, Christopher," he ordered, slowly and purposely emphasizing each word. "Now. I've already removed you from the case. Don't tell me I have to remove you from this part of it, too? Or can you shut up and forget about Holly long enough for us to get the information we need to get her back?"

"Holly?" Artemis Senior murmured thoughtfully. Both their gaze snapped back to him. 

"Yes," Chris snapped, and this time, now more than ever, Artemis could see the blaze in his eyes, the fearsome fire of hellish fury and a similar amount of more vulnerable emotions piled behind it. "Holly. The innocent young girl who your son has completely defiled and who just so happens to be-"

He cut off suddenly and they all jumped as the door banged open and Foaly came back in, pushing a cart of equipment. He barely spared them a glance as he walked straight over to the monitor mounted on the wall and started fiddling with wires, attaching and detaching cords to hook up the small box that contained the video memory of Fowl's security footage so that it would play out on the screen. It was painstaking work, unmistakably, but nonetheless he did it in record time, then reached down to pick up the remote. "Ready?" he asked, addressing them finally as he finished. 

"Roll the tape," was all the Commander said. 

He did. It appeared as though the tape picked up exactly where they had left off the last time they watched it together: right where Artemis had poured the medication mixture into her veins and walked out. Now, as it resumed, he was coming back in, cool and collected as usual and ready to interrogation her.

Foaly looked at Chris. "Have you seen this part?"

Silently, the man nodded. His jaw was tightly clenched, his knuckles white from the strain of clenching them so tightly. Fowl noticed and sighed a little, regretting causing such a reaction, even as out of character as it was for him. He frowned slightly and looked back at the plasma screen. 

He watched, almost in a trance, with horrified fascination as his son wormed the information from the girl he had tied to his wall. Fowl's throat flexed as he swallowed hard; his son wouldn't be like this, wouldn't even know about them, nor would that poor girl be there, if it wasn't for him. If he wasn't so irresponsible, or harsh, or...

He blinked himself out of his reverie when he heard a sharp intake of breath. It was Chris again, and when Fowl looked up he saw why.

To his horror, he saw the girl - Holly - being held in the air, spread eagle, and held there as they draped a towel over her pretty face and hoisted up a bucket. He hissed and under his breath let out a soft string of colorful language that made even the Commander looked at him in surprise. 

"He didn't really..." He began, but somebody cut him off before he could ever actually ask the question.

"Yes, he did," barked Chris, spitting the words out around his tightened jaw. "In the same span of time, he also managed to give her a nice bump on the head-"

"-And a broken wrist," the Commander finished. Chris shot him a look. "What? Just because you seem to have missed it doesn't mean I did."

Artemis Senior sucked in a deep breath, then hissed it out. He's my son. I made him like this. He hurt her because of me. The sudden return of conscience was shocking. 

"Alright," he said, wincing. "I get it. Did he take care of her injuries, at least?"

The Commander winced visibly at that. Chris looked at him, his gaze as questioning as Artemis Senior’s, and he gathered that he didn’t know yet either. He must not have seen that part. “Ahem,” he muttered. “Yes,” he said eventually. “Would you like to see that part?” 

Fowl nodded silently. Chris, probably the whole time throughout the whole interrogation, seemed to be in agreement. “I haven’t seen that part yet either,” he said affably. “I’d like to see how that goes over, as well.”

Foaly, who had picked up the remote and pressed the fast forward button, and was now watching for the right part, shook his head. “No,” he told him, solemnly. “Believe me, you really don’t.” 

Chris’s eyebrows knitted together as he stared at the centaur. “What?” he asked bluntly. 

“Nothing,” the older elf intercepted, quickly, sending a glare Foaly’s way and shaking his head. “Absolutely nothing. Just watch. You can stop here, Foaly,” he added. 

“Always so bossy, Julius,” Foaly muttered, but nonetheless he stopped and pressed the play button again. 

At the point this time where he stopped, Holly was soaking wet, tied to the wall by her forearms, and Artemis Junior was leaning over her, pushing her wet hair back off her forehead. He sighed visibly as he sat back.

Fowl Senior and Christopher hissed in unison. Seeing both of their children, in the states they were in, was enough to make them both upset. Holly looked like hell, and of all the injuries he could see the one that was most shocking to him was the presence of his name engraved into her cheek. Chris had already seen it, but he hadn’t seen what she’d looked like after the waterboarding, not yet. Artemis Junior, on the other hand, wasn’t injured, but he was obviously conflicted. His face contorted as he stroked her hair, the dark brows drawn together, his blue eyes burned into the sleeping elf’s face, impeccably focused and obviously deep in thought. 

Fowl Senior sighed. He knew that look. He’d seen it often enough, on many people, and even felt the emotion that caused more times than he cared to admit. He recognized it immediately and knew what his son was wavering with - but that didn’t mean he had to share it with the other people in the room. And indeed, he didn’t. 

On the screen, Artemis drew back as Holly’s eyelids fluttered a few times. The elf stirred across from him, and she made a soft sound in her sleep that made every face visible, in the room and on the screen contort. 

“Dad,” Holly moaned in her sleep. It was barely audible and discontorted by her chattering teeth, but nonetheless at second listen was discernible. "D-daddy...."

Fowl sneaked a glance over at Chris. His face was contorted, hard, but his eyes were glazed over with pain. As if he felt the gaze on him, he turned, just enough to be looking over at him. They hardened to steel when they looked with his, the electric blue meeting the tough, rustic brown. 

There was a long silence between them, or so it felt like, but it was really only seconds. This much was proven when a sound from the screen startled them. 

"Shh.."

It was Artemis. The teen was back beside Holly, stroking her hair as she slept again, fitfully. He was trying to be reassuring, but obviously not succeeding. He pulled back and ran a hand through his hair, and just as he dropped his hand and looked back up, her eyelids opened.

Immediately everyone watching was alert. This is where it would happen. This was what they wanted to see.

Artemis Senior watched his son as he gave the elf orders, relaying information and, much to both fathers' surprise, apologizing. Holly seemed equally surprised, but as soon as she got over that, distraught and outrage took over. 

“Sorry? Seriously? Is that all you’ve got? The pain and suffering I just went through, and my claustrophobia, and all the injuries I have now, and all you can say is sorry? That’s it?”

Her voice was high, in pitch and volume, and even Fowl felt his heart tug at the look on her face and her words.

“That’s all you can say for this?” she whispered. “Any of it? Sorry doesn’t fix it, Fowl. It doesn’t fix any of it. It won’t fix what happened, or change it. It won’t heal me or erase the memories of this. And it certainly won’t bring your father back.” At that, Artemis Senior winced, but he still listened. “It doesn’t bring me any closer to going home, either. Only you can do that. And Frond knows you won’t.”

There was a silence, a brief pause, and then his son was scolding. He winced again. He wondered how things could have gotten so badly out of hand so severely, but before the train of thought could get too far he was ripped out of it by Holly potent exclamation.

“This will never be my home! No matter what you do to me, I will never, ever accept any place but Haven as my home.”

Faintly, he heard Christopher snarl, but he was too engrossed in the scene to even be bothered to look at him. 

“I didn’t ask you to, and I wouldn’t," Artemis Junior replied. His tone was sharp enough even his father winced. "As I said, this is only temporary.” 

"It better be."

Fowl blinked and glanced at him. The poor man's fury was obviously barely controlled, but now pained clearly broke it's way through his face. Fowl opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it at the man's startled expression. His jaw dropped open, and when he turned back towards the screen to see what was so shocking, he felt himself copy the movement.

Holly was crying. And even more startlingly, his son appeared to be melting at the sight of it. 

Or at least he did for half a second. Then he pulled out the knife. 

Everyone was shocked for a split second, just long enough for it to register, as then as Holly squeaked again on the screen Chris was out of his chair and bolting towards Fowl. 

Chris snatched him up by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. A feral snarl escaped his throat. "I swear to Frond, if he hurts her for that, I'll kill the both of you," he warned, his voice dark, deep and throaty. He looked ticked, but his hands were shaking, and it didn't take a genius to realize the prominent guiding emotion he felt was fear, not anger, even though that simmered beneath the surface too. 

Fowl just chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sure you would try, but alas, I doubt you could. After all, my son had to have learned from someone, didn't he?" He smirked.

Another growl ripped free from his chest. Chris may not have normally had a blood pressure problem, but now his face was a red color that surpassed even the Commander's. "I-" he started, but Julius intercepted. 

"Major Short. Put him down," Julius ordered, with deceiving calm. "Stop this instant."

"Commander, I-"

"Don't even," barked the Commander, "Try to talk your way out of this one, Short. Come on, Christopher. Drop him. Now."

The Major growled again, lowly, but nonetheless dropped the human back onto his cot and backed away. His chest heaved as he glared daggers at him. Fowl just watched him solemnly, though his lips twitched perceptively. 

"You want to see what he does to her?" the Commander asked, quietly, putting a hand on his officer's shoulder and giving it a hard squeeze. "Look."

All heads turned to the screen at the same time then. And then, in unison, both parent's jaws dropped to the floor. 

Artemis and Holly were kissing. Artemis was bent down over her, a hand on her cheek, and he was kissing her - but none of them could deny that his grip was obviously light, his hand doing nothing more than cradling her face. He hadn't forced her to kiss him. 

Chris's breath left his lungs in a whoosh, while Fowl inhaled deeply in surprise. Both pairs of eyes were glued to the screen, watching intently as the pair finally broke apart for air. It took a second for the shock to settle, but then they both shifted and locked eyes again. 

"That was unexpected," Fowl commented dryly, hoping to break the uneasy silence that now lay between them.

"Understatement of the year." The Major sighed and rubbed his face with his free hand. "I don't understand exactly what the hell just happened, but I have a feeling it's not going to go over well. I also hope that you gained an understanding of why I'm so concerned about her, and the severeness of the situation."

"Oh, yes," Fowl agreed affably. "That kiss looked quite severe."

Now he was baiting him on purpose, but even though he could tell, it still riled him up. However, before he could say a word, Julius moved between him and Fowl and shook his head. "Don't cause trouble," he warned the human irritably. "And it is severe. The fact that she willingly just kissed him means she has Stockholm Syndrome. A bad case of it too. We need to get her out of there.. and soon."

Artemis wasn't inclined to agree that their children kissing was such a bad thing, but nonetheless he said, grudgingly, "Fine. I'll be cooperative, if that's what you really need, but what exactly does that entail?"

"We just need to know what else you know," Julius said in a quiet voice. "And we need to discuss a mind wipe."

"A mind wipe?" Fowl demanded. "No. I won't get a mind wipe. I absolutely refuse. The same thing goes for Artemis. You cannot touch either of our memories."

"It would create a problem if-" he started, but Fowl cut him off.

"There is no risk of a problem. My family will stay out of your business if you stay out of ours. We will present no threat to you."

Christopher attempted to poorly disguise his snort as a cough. The Commander shot him a disapproving look and then looked back at Fowl, his face wary. "That's hard to digest. I'm sure you understand. We can't simply trust your word. Especially considering your son's behavior.”

Fowl frowned and rubbed his forehead. “I understand the concern, but I promise you I will deal with my son,” he told them, looking back and forth between them. He sighed heavily and shook his head. “If either of us tries anything else later on, I’ll consent to a mindwipe for the guilty party, but then and only then.” He held the commander’s gaze as he finished, their eyes locking. “Deal?”

Julius sighed and nodded, even though his instincts screamed at him not to. It was reasonable enough, and even if it wasn’t, he couldn’t legally force the humans into a mindwipe. This compromise would have to do.

They shook hands. A weight slid of both of their shoulders, and they stood up to conclude their little meeting, oblivious to what the screens were now showing….


	14. Chapter 14

14\. 

“Eat it.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a vegetarian.” 

“Why?”

Holly sighed. This had been a back and forth conversation since she’d woken up. He wanted her to eat the meat, and she was refusing. It was the only thing she’d really protested on the whole time she’d been there, and it did make her nervous, but she wasn’t going to give in and eat the meat. She just couldn’t. “I don’t like meat, Artemis.” 

He shook his head at her. “Why don’t you like meat?” 

“I just don’t. It’s disgusting and sickening and barbaric.” 

“If you don’t eat meat, you’ll be the one who gets sick,” he pointed out. 

“No, I won’t.” She sighed. “I could name all the fairies I know that eat meat on one hand. It’s not just me. It makes a lot of people sick."

"Yourself included, I take it?"

"Yes," Holly sighed. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing it probably wasn't a safe idea. "Myself included." 

Artemis sat back and looked at her over steepled fingers. "Fine. Don't eat the meat. But at least eat the fruit."

She shook her head, exasperated at his pushy attitude, but decided it was better not to resist. He was being uncharacteristically nice, after all - why make him angry? 

He smiled when she took the bowl of fresh fruit off the platter and popped a grape in her mouth. "Thank you," he murmured.

“Hmph. You’re welcome,” she muttered, but she didn’t sound very convincing. He smirked.

“Am I irritating you, Holly?”

“Just a bit.” 

“I could be doing things a lot worse than trying to force you to eat, you know,” he told her. There was an unmistakable intensity lacing his voice, but it also lacked the threatening tone that she’d feared he might take. It was merely a statement, an observation - but not a threat.

“I know,” she acknowledged quietly. “I’m glad that we’re away from that, though. I.. I admit I was worried, but you seem to have given up on the torture for the moment.” She put another grape in her mouth and looked away. How long could that possibly last? Maybe he had his information now, but she remembered very clearly what he’d said at the table during negotiations. 

He was still just posturing. It was hard to tell to whom was was aiming it towards, now, but he was lying to one of them. Would he really do horrible things to her if they didn’t return his father? Or was he bluffing it out to protect them all? 

“Holly!” Artemis snapped, and she was surprised to hear a sharp tone to his voice. “Did you hear what I just said?”

“N-no,” Holly admitted. “Sorry. What did you say?”

“I said that you’re way too pessimistic for your own good. The torture is done, Holly. I said it and I meant it.”

“But.. if that’s true, why did you say what you said at the negotiations?” she asked. 

“I said what I needed to say,” Artemis replied with a sigh. “They wouldn’t have given me my father back all nicely and in one piece unless they had serious incentive. They’d rather put a bullet in the both of us and take their little elf home, and act like this all never happened. So I bluffed, Holly. What else do you expect me to do?” 

His dark blue eyes burned with earnestness and intensity as she met his gaze. His words sounded so true, and his eyes matched.... But he was skilled was lying and controlling his facial expressions. Could she really trust what he said?

“That was a very convincing bluff, Artemis,” she said carefully, sitting back slowly and popping another grape in her mouth. She chewed with exaggerated slowness, studying him quietly.

If she had hoped to trick him at all or get any answers from him, she was sorely mistaken. Artemis frowned at her and shook his head. “You don’t trust me. Why?”

Holly winced a little, but her only response was a shrug. 

"Holly..." 

She winced again at the warning tone of his voice. He leaned forward and looked at her. "You don't need to worry about me getting mad if you tell me why. I just need to know."

"Why does it matter? I already said I don't know."

"You said what you think I want to hear," Artemis countered. "I'm a genius, Holly - did you really think I wouldn't know? It's basic psychology. Not to mention that it's written all over your face." Sighing, he loved back over to the loveseat to be closer to her and took her chin in his grasp. "Look at me," he ordered. She looked up and met his eyes. "Tell me the truth. I'm not mad. In fact, I think it's completely rational for you you to be terrified of me - but not without reason. So tell me why. That's all I want to know."

Holly swallowed the grape down hard. She unwillingly met and held his eyes as her mind raced, searching for an answer. He said he wouldn’t get upset, but she couldn’t say for sure. How much could she tell him without setting him off? There had to be a limit. “Artemis… I don’t know. You waterboarded me for Frond’s sake - aren’t I allowed to have a little bit of fear left ingrained in me? Just because you kissed me, and just because I may have Stockholm Syndrome, it still doesn’t change things. You’re still human, and you still hurt me, and lied to me, and kidnapped me, and drugged me...The list goes on.” She sighed and lowered her eyes. “And just because you don’t want to hurt me anymore now doesn’t mean you won’t later. You could always change your mind.”

Artemis stared at her bowed head, feeling several emotions, but most prominently he was torn between being dejected and being confused. He knew he shouldn’t really have a right to feel hurt that she didn’t trust him - after all, he had done all those things she said to her. In fact, he had suspected that she still would, and that if anything all the Stockholm Syndrome would mean was that she would mellow out and be more willing to surrender to him than fight. But even still her admission stung.

Artemis pulled his hand away and sighed. He came over and positioned himself on the loveseat next to her again, wrapping an arm around her and frowning when she flinched away from his touch. However, she didn’t say anything as he pulled her closer, onto his lap, and hugged her. “Holly,” he murmured, gently, although she still jumped a little because he was next to her ear, “I’m not mad. Know that, at least. You have every right to still be afraid of me, after what I’ve done, and even if you hated me, I wouldn’t say that the judgement is misplaced. I think I deserve it. But that’s not the point.”

The point is that, no, you didn’t deserve what I did, or what I likely will still do. Your fears aren’t illogical, even if I do feel a bit put out by them, which is my own fault. But even if I did hurt you, and when I did earlier, you need to understand…” He pushed her back a little, tilting her head back to his so she met his eyes. “I never wanted to, Holly. I’m not a sadist, even if I do act like it occasionally for show. I don’t find pleasure in pain, and I wouldn’t have wished it on you had I known then what I know now. But desperation does horrible things to people, Holly, as does fear, and believe it or not I do have fears of my own.” He let go of her chin, raising his eyes to the dark walls, staring absently into them. “Fear of losing my family is one of them. My worst, in fact. I cannot lose my father. If I lose my father, I will lose my mother, and then.. well, if that happens, I fear I will lose myself.”

His eyes snapped back down to her suddenly as she moved, pushing herself back and then reaching up to touch his face. For a moment he flinched too, but then settled into her touch, sighing contentedly at the feeling and raising a hand to hold her hand there. 

But then she shook her head and pulled away. He let her, following her movements with his eyes as she slowly pulled away and then wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him again. She laid down her head and pressed it into his neck. “I’m sorry, Artemis,” she whispered.

The words were so soft he barely caught them. However, barely was the operative word, because he did. He sighed and pressed his lips into her hair, inhaling and then letting out another soft breath before speaking. “It’s not your fault, Holly,” Artemis told her softly, still speaking into her hair. “It was never your fault.”

His arms wrapped around her and pulled her to his chest. They sat like that for several minutes before she finally pulled back to look at him. When she did, she found that when she moved and dislodged his head he had looked down at her, too. They stared into each other’s gaze for a long moment, warm hazel into electric blue, and then suddenly they were kissing again.

His lips were a bit rougher this time, and she could taste the underlying desperation in desire, the need for support that he would never actually admit in words as he had a moment ago with other things. His one hand tightened into her hair, holding her head in place as he kissed her deeply. His other hand supported her back, his long nails digging into her skin through the layers of clothing. It was slightly painful, but it wasn’t even deep enough to draw blood. Holly’s hands held tightly to his shoulders, and she leaned up into him, kissing him back with all the same force he was pushing from her. Her need for support was different. She needed support to know that she could survive him.

After another minute, they broke off. Artemis pushed Holly gently off his lap and walked over to grab his laptop, then headed for the door. He paused by the handle as Holly was still trying to recover her breath. 

“I’ll be back. Eat what you can of the food,” he said shortly, disguising his breathlessness with curtness and prowess he didn’t know he possessed. He saw Holly nod, but she didn’t look at him. He stared at her for another moment, then left the room without another word, leaving the locks to kick in automatically behind him.


	15. Chapter 15

15\. 

 

Artemis had said he’d be back, so she tried to stay up and wait for him, but when three hours passed and he still hadn’t returned, she couldn’t help it: she fell asleep. 

When she woke, the human still hadn’t returned. She sat up in her seat and looked around. A window to the left of her showed the pitch black of night, but there was no other indication in the room she knew of to guess the time. So it was either extremely late into the night, or very early in the morning. 

It hadn’t looked that much different when she fell asleep. She knew she couldn’t have been unconscious that long, and she was still tired. What had woken her?

It was another long moment before she identified it, but eventually, her tired mind registered the muffled sound of tiny, repeated beeps. They were soft, almost distant... Where were they coming from? 

But then it suddenly stopped.

She didn’t have time to ponder why as the door flew open, revealing a ragged, tired-looking Artemis. The human hadn’t even bothered to change out of his bedclothes before coming to get her. “Ar-” she started to say, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“Hush, Holly. I apologize for waking you, though I hadn’t intended on it. However, I’ve just received a message from your People, and I think it’s only fair to let you see it. Not to mention, I’ll feel better keeping you close from now on. Everything is so close.. if it slips away now…” He hesitated, then shook his head. “No matter. Come on.”

Confused, Holly stood up and righted the jacket she was wearing to cover her legs again. He waited as she buttoned it up and untucked her hair from the collar. She felt a bit silly, doing all that now, but she was suddenly aware she was freezing, and the deep, wrenching feeling in her gut told her it was only going to get worse. 

“Okay,” she said finally, walking over and taking her place by his side. “I’m ready. Let’s go.” 

He stared at her for a final second, giving her one last, sweeping glance, then gave the barest of nods and turned away. He didn’t make a sound or look back at her as he headed down the hallway, apparently trusting that she would follow. 

She did, nervously, and, unsure of whether or not it was a good idea to lag behind at all, she pushed herself to move fast enough to keep up with his long, quick strides, despite the pain that shot through her injured leg. It felt stiff and achy, throbbing dully, but nonetheless she ignored the pain and pressed on.

They had to go down several floors to make it to the main ones again. There were only around three that they even kept in decent shape, because those were the ones the Fowls mainly used, and Artemis revealed to her when she asked that she’d been on the seventh. This was surprising, although not because she was so high up - because, truthfully, she’d thought she was higher. She could have sworn there were more staircases on the way up. But then, when he’d dragged her up there, she’d been on the verge of hysteria, so there was really no way to tell. 

He stopped outside a door, opening it up and gesturing for her to go in. She did without complaint, her eyes widening a little as she took in the space. 

She knew instantly it was part of Artemis's private quarters, but it was still so... impersonal. She couldn't help thinking back to her and her father's offices in comparison. Apparently, Artemis and Holly's father had similar professional styles: their offices were bare of any personal touches, and overly equipped with technology, making it appear as an entirely professional place. Holly's wasn't too different, but it still wasn't as cold and bare as they left theirs.

Artemis's study was painted a dark indigo color, which made the room immediately look dark. His floor and ceiling were both black, and on none of the surrounding walls was there so much as a picture of him or his family. They were stark and bare. His desk, which was pushed against the wall to the left of the door, was neat and organized, and only had a desktop computer monitor, several stacks of papers, and a disk on it with a piece of tape attached to it. 

She spotted it and frowned, looking at it curiously, but then she spotted a window seat directly across from her and ran over to it. 

She sat down next to the window, which was open, as per the source of her excitement, and leaned on the rim, closing her eyes and breathing deeply in the surface air.

She sensed Artemis as he came up behind her, but she ignored his presence until he laid a hand on her shoulder and made her turn towards him. She met his abnormally dark eyes and frowned at how serious they looked. Even in the beginning, he’d never looked quite so solemn. “Is something wrong?” she asked him. 

He shook his head. “No, but nonetheless, we need to speak. You can sit by the window for the rest of the night if you really feel like it, but we have business to take care of first.” He held out his hand to her.

She took it and let him pull her to her feet, feeling the warm press of his hand in the center of her back as he guided her over to his computer. He pushed her into his chair and then leaned forward, his body hanging over hers as he grabbed the computer disk and knelt to insert it in the computer. The piece of paper that had been resting on it fluttered into the air and floated down to land gently on her lap. 

Holly looked at it curiously, then tossed a look down at Artemis. He was still preoccupied with the disk, so she assumed it was safe, and picked up the note.

The moment she saw it, she recognized the handwriting. The messy, tilted, thick black scrawl on the paper could be none other than her father’s own handwriting.

Holly blinked at the paper, which was suddenly blurry, but she couldn’t clear her vision enough to read it. No, she chided herself. You can’t cry. Not over something so silly, not now.

She swallowed the sob that threatened to rise up in her throat and looked back down to Artemis, only to find her wasn’t there. He’d stood up just as she went to look for him. 

She looked up and met his eyes, and he sighed as he saw the paper in her hand and the rim of water in her gaze. “You recognize it?” he questioned, reaching down and gently pulling the paper out of her hand. 

“It…” Her voice was low and croaky, thickened by the unshed tears. “It’s my father’s handwriting.” She couldn’t believe this was what it had come to; she was crying over seeing something her father wrote. How pathetic. Suddenly feeling foolish, she wiped away the tears from her eyes and turned away. “Nevermind. I’m being stupid. What’s the disk?”

“Let’s find out, shall we?” he replied. He perched on the armrest of his chair and reached out to open the program so he could watch the video. Holly stared at his back, puzzled. 

“You haven’t seen it?”

“Not yet.”

“But then-”

“Butler found the note and the disk on the front steps when he went out to do his rounds, Holly. He checked it and brought it to me. I read the note and went to get you. So no, I haven’t seen it yet. Does that clear things up?”

She nodded. 

“Good. Now, let’s watch this, shall we?” Again, she nodded silently. He reached out and pressed “play”.

Immediately, the video feed filled the screen. Artemis’s eyes were glued to the screen, but he didn’t miss Holly’s strangled gasp as she recognized all the faces gathered there. He himself recognized three of the four faces there; one of them was his father, another appeared to be a centaur, and there were the two elves from the disastrous negotiations. Holly’s father and his boss. 

Holly bit her lip to keep the sobs rising up through her throat from escaping. She chanted the steady mantra in her head from earlier - don’t cry, don’t cry - but all the while her eyes were fixed firmly on her father. She knew he couldn’t see her, but his heavy gaze was locked on the screen, and it looked like he could be staring right at her. If only it was live camera and not a recording.

Artemis looked at his own father and felt similar emotions swell up in his chest, but he hid it better than Holly. If he hadn’t had the years of practice that he did, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to. Admittedly, it was a struggle as it was.

First and foremost, the centaur and the Commander were the closest to the screen. Fowl Senior and Major Short both sat in the background, obviously watching Root; it seemed he’d been nominated to be the lone speaker for this round.

He cleared his throat, and both viewers gazes snapped to him. 

“Alright, Fowl,” Root said, lifting his eyes awkwardly to the screen. “Here’s how it is. Obviously, our side of the bargain is being kept - your father is alive and unharmed, and you can see-” he gestured vaguely behind him, in the general direction of where Artemis Senior sat, listening, “-and we’ve contacted you within the time limit. We’ll deliver him at exactly 12:00 AM, on your time, tomorrow. That’s midday. Assuming you don’t do anything stupid then, and you’ve kept your side of the bargain thus far, which means that Holly is still alive and you haven’t inflicted any further harm on her, we’ll keep the meeting clean and neutral. A simple swap. It should be quick and easy.”

Artemis nodded at the screen, though he knew that it was just a recording and Root wouldn’t be able to acknowledge the gesture. He caught himself after a second, frowned, and then shook it off. 

Root was still speaking, but to the room this time. He had turned his back to the camera. “Did I miss anything?”

“No-” Foaly started to say, at the same time both Artemis Senior and Christopher said, “Yes.”

The stopped and looked at each other. For about two minutes, they glared at each other, trying to stare each other down and make the other one crack. Finally, the Commander broke the tense silence by snapping at them. “Well, go on then! What was it already?”

Fowl didn’t move, but Chris’s eyes automatically flicked to his superior. The glance was brief, but despite that, he found that when he looked back at Fowl, he was smirking smugly. The elf rolled his eyes and turned to face Root completely. “The meeting place, Commander. Where we’re doing the switch.”

“Ah. Right.” Root turned back to face the video screen. “The ritual site where you kidnapped her. We’ll make the drop there. It’s the closest thing to common neutral ground we have. If you have any qualms, too bad.” He looked around again. “Anything else?” 

Chris leaned back in the chair and frowned. He had crossed his arms tightly across his firm chest. He seemed to think for a second, then shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Good.” 

Root turned back, and for a moment, his dark eyes burned into the camera directly. Holly got a good view of his face up close for the first time. She saw the stress lines that wrought his brow, the deepness and solemnness in his eyes that was that of a man who has seen too much. But as quick as it appeared, it disappeared as he muttered gruffly, “See you then,” and cut the connection.

Artemis fell back against the chair and let himself go limp with relief, very briefly. Then he straightened his form again, returning his mask to it’s place and slipping back into the persona of his cool, collected, scheming self. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples, focusing on blocking out the sound of Holly’s heavy sigh, and the feeling of her shoulder and what he guessed was her cheek pressed against his thigh. It wasn’t the time to let himself drown in her; it was time to scheme. 

“This won’t do,” he said aloud. His mind whirled around in circles, piecing things together and ruling them out as he spoke.

“What won’t?” Holly asked, looking up at him curiously. He didn’t answer, too deep in brainstorming to hear or to acknowledge her. She tugged his leg lightly. “A-Artemis?”

He sighed and opened his eyes, but didn’t look down at her. “What, Holly?”

“What’s the matter? What ‘won’t do’?”

Artemis groaned a little and stood up. “Persistent little thing, aren’t you? That won’t work, Holly. Their terms won’t. I can’t go there. I have to be here. I can’t give them the advantage of being allowed to pick the spot. They know the ground better than I, and I can’t risk an ambush. I need to be able to get through this.” He sighed and walked over a little ways, beginning to pace the opposite wall. Holly turned the chair with minimum difficulty and watched him. “In order to change it, however, I’ll have to find a way to contact them, and quickly. That’s not quite as simple as it sounds, though….”

Holly frowned. “Why don’t you just use my communicator? That has a direct line to my dad and Root.”

He stopped, and whirled on her so suddenly that his body was a blur. “What?”

“Well… my communicator,” she murmured, suddenly feeling awkward. “Technically - legally, really - I’m not supposed to have one yet, but Dad gave me one at the graduation… it’s his actually, but he let me borrow it before we came up, in case we got separated or something… What?” she asked self-consciously, feeling shy at the funny look he was giving her. 

“You had a communicator this whole time?” he growled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What? No! It was in my suit!” she said defensively. “Frond, I forgot about it until just now! It was tucked away in the pocket because I wasn’t expecting to use it and I didn’t want to risk losing it!”

“Holly…” He sighed. “You amaze me sometimes, you know that? And not always in a good way.” Leaning forward, he put his hands down on the arms of the chair, one on either side of her. She could smell his breath. It still smelled like his toothpaste from when he must have brushed his teeth before bed. “Where is it?” Artemis whispered, blowing a puff of his minty breath in her face.

Holly inhaled a little despite herself, then shook her head, desperate to clear it. “Um.. front left hip pocket.. There should be a magnetic clipper on it. There may be a few things in there, but the communicator looks like a ring..”

Artemis swept away in a second, and Holly let out a soft breath of relief, slumping in the chair as the door to his study slammed closed behind him. She took a minute to regulate her breathing, getting Artemis out of her head to the best of her abilities, then turned back to the screen. Her eyes locked on her father again. 

“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she whispered. “I did what had to be done. But it will all be okay. You’ll see... I hope.”

oOoOoOoOoOo

It was several minutes before Artemis came back in. When he did, his hands were tight-fisted and stuffed in his pockets, but he was smirking triumphantly. 

He approached Holly, kneeling by her feet so he could be closer to level with her, and held out a fist. "Is this it?"

Holly grabbed his fist, pulling it onto her lap and sliding one of her tiny fingers in between his, uncurling them soundlessly. She tried not to let the difference of the size of their hands freak her out, instead focusing on the small ring in his palm. 

It wasn't big or gaudy in any way; it was a man's ring, after all. Being an LEP officer, his was new, top notch model. It was only a simple gold band with one word engraved in the center of it in elegant Gnommish script: Christopher. 

Holly stared at it for a second before answering. "Yeah... This is it."

"Good." He raised his eyes to hers briefly, searching her face for any sign of lingering emotion, and then murmured, "Well, I assume you know how to work it. If you don't mind, show me?"

Holly took a deep breath and nodded. She lifted the ring up between them, running her fingers over it repeatedly. "Well, I don't really have a choice in the matter; even if I showed you, you wouldn't be able to work it because it's DNA coded to me and Dad, so it would have to be me. As it is, it's relatively simple."

"You turn it on like this." She swiped her finger over the letters engraved in the ring's surface, watching without surprise as a blue holographic screen popped up between them. Artemis blinked in surprise, but didn't dare interrupt. 

Holly scrolled down through the list of contacts that took up the left side of the screen, ignoring the right half completely. It wasn't important to her purpose. "This list is contacts," she told him, suddenly stopping it from continuing to fly down. Her finger hovered over one, but didn't press it. She met his eyes through the blue veil of the screen. "This one is Root's direct line. He's the one you need to talk to if you want to change something. Otherwise, it's pointless." She shrugged a little. "Do you want me to call him?" 

Artemis hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of calling him now. There was a large chance he might not answer, considering how late it was, but if he did, he would likely be either tired and malleable or angry and annoyed at getting work up. Either way, it would likely be easier to get something set up now than it would later. 

But Artemis didn't like not being in control. He liked to do it his way, and the last thing he needed was to loose his current ace by revealing he had the communicator. 

"No," he said finally. "Wait until morning. We'll call him in a few hours."

"Alright." She swiped her finger over her father's name again, and the blue screen disappeared. Her eyes flickered to his again, this time without the reflection of the blue light, but they were still wide and bright even without the emphasis. "Can I... I mean, do you mind if I keep it? I-I swear I won't call anyone or anything, but I just feel better with it on me." Her tone and her eyes both the same: soft and pleading. 

He met her gaze coolly, but his frown gave away the conflicting emotions his eyes kept hidden. "I... I don't think it's such a good idea, Holly," Artemis admitted, slowly, his voice gentle but firm. "However," he added, as her face fell, "I'll make you a deal. Give it back to me now, and in the morning, after we make the call and I settle the arrangements, I'll give it back to you. Okay? No harm done. I promise."

Holly sulked, but nonetheless she silently handed over the ring.

"Good girl. Thank you." He took her hand and, surprising her, leaned down and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. His eyes didn't leave hers. He smirked as her eyes widened a fraction. "Now that that nasty business has been taken care of, let's go back to bed, shall we? We still have a few hours yet to sunrise, and we should use them wisely." He stood, pulling her with him since they were still connected by their linked hands. "Come. Let us go and get some sleep."

They exited his study and headed straight across the hall to his room, only pausing long enough for Artemis to turn on his locks again in the study an disengage the ones one his bedroom. Then he opened the door for her, gesturing for her to go in ahead of him. 

Holly didn't realize where she was until he'd came in and shut the door behind him, and she'd gotten a good look at the room. When she heard the lock snap behind her, she whirled, feeling panic rise in her chest. "Artemis-"

He clamped a hand firmly over her mouth, watching her eyes widen at the motion as she looked down her nose at his hand. "Hush," Artemis instructed softly. "Relax. We're just going to go to sleep, as I said. I’d just like to have you with me this final night, so I can keep an eye on you and be with you without worrying about prying eyes. Alright?"

Holly nodded against his hand. Her eyes were still wide, but they weren't really fearful anymore, just uncertain. "Okay," she agreed once he’d removed his hand, taking a breath before meeting his gaze again. "Yeah. Good enough. Let's go to bed then." 

Artemis raised an eyebrow, but she only stared back. "What?" she asked defensively, rubbing her upper arms and huffing. He quickly shook his head, and did a decent job at hiding his smirk. 

"Nothing; nothing at all. Shall we?" He gestured to his bed, but before he could even finish speaking, she was moving, rushing over and burrowing deep within the covers. He blinked, then, chuckling and shaking his head, followed her over and laid down.

Holly had curled up on the side closest to the wall. She had pressed her back against it and was facing his way, her head resting on one of his pillows and her body curled up next to his, but her eyes had closed. 

Artemis chuckled. Despite the fact he knew that he shouldn't have even brought her in here, much less be putting his hands on her, he couldn't stop himself then. He reached out and gently stroked his thumb across her face, tracing with the pad of his thumb from her jawbone to the corner of her left eye. At his touch, it flickered and opened. 

Holly met his eyes and sighed. She looked tired and worried, but if she was upset at his ministrations, she didn't show it. If anything, she looked sad.

"What are you doing, Artemis?" she whispered. He winced at the exhaustion in her voice, but hid it with a small smirk. 

"What's it feel like I'm doing?" He leaned closer, letting his nose touch hers briefly, then sliding it down her neck. His lips brushed her skin a few times, and she shivered, unable to suppress the urge. "I'm touching you. I'm lying here with you and trying to enjoy what little time there is left to us." He took her face between his hands, tenderly stroking his finger over the scar on her right cheek where his name had been gouged into her skin. He could still see the ragged outline of the letters, even though it had mostly healed. Artemis sighed softly and pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm just trying to be with you, the way I want to, not the way I've had to lately."

Holly leaned into his touch and sighed. She shuffled away from the wall a few inches, so they were closer together, feeling him move his legs to wrap around hers but still not complaining. He pulled them together until their legs were entangled and his arms were around her, pulling her tight to him as he rolled to pin her underneath him. He pressed his nose into the tender skin of her neck and inhaled, but didn't dare do anything else. 

"Holly?" Artemis whispered cautiously. 

Holly slipped one of her arms free, sliding it around him and tangling her fingers into his hair. She sighed a little, enjoying the silky feel of it, and paused another moment before answering. "Yes?"

He pulled back, meeting her eyes again. "Can I kiss you?"

Holly stared at him, shocked. "Uh... I.. Yes," she finally murmured. 

He smiled at her, a real smile, the first one she thought she had really ever seen on him. And then he kissed her, his mouth descending down and claiming hers with vigor and something else she couldn't easily identify. He was gentle, of course, but dominant, not allowing her any space to move or breathe. He worked open her mouth with his lips while his body kept her pinned. His hands - one on the back of her head, the other in the center of her back - held her to him, further making her she couldn't escape.

It was a long minute before he pulled back, and when he did, it was just enough for them to breathe. Barely an inch of space was between their mouths. 

Holly panted and leaned her head against his chest. "Frond, Artemis," she whispered into his skin. It was warm, the heat radiating out through his nightshirt, and the rise and fall of his chest was slightly exaggerated from lack of air. "What are we doing?"

Artemis sighed. He nuzzled his face into her hair and took a deep breath. "Holly, I..." He hesitated, finding himself, for once, at a loss for words. "I don't know," he finally replied. "I just...don't know."

"We're going to tear ourselves apart like this."

"I know," Artemis answered with false calm, but even as he spoke the words, his arms unconsciously tightened around her. "But if this is all we have, Holly, then we have to take it. You never know what will happen tomorrow. If this night is all we can have... We need to take it, regardless of the repercussions." He kissed her temple, then murmured against her skin, "Alright?"

Holly nodded. "Alright." She slid her hands over his chest, over his shoulders, and wound her arms around his neck. "But even still... I mean, not that I'm not up for cuddling, or that I'm protesting to you kissing me or anything, but can you lay beside me instead of on me? You're crushing me, and I'd still like to get some sleep tonight," she said meekly. 

The human threw back his head and laughed. "Yes, Holly." He climbed off of her, releasing her completely as he laid down next to her again, this time with her on the outside and him nearest the wall. Then he reached for her again, tucking her into his arms and pulling the covers up around them. "There. I'm no longer on top of you. Now, let's actually go to sleep, shall we? You'll need the rest."

"Okay," Holly murmured, snuggling deeper into his arms. "Night, Artemis."

"Goodnight, Holly," he whispered, resting his forehead against the top of her head and closing his eyes. 

In minutes, they were both asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

16.

The next morning, as the first light of the day began to filter in the window, Artemis woke Holly up. He himself had gotten up an hour before sunrise, and was freshly showered and dressed in a new black suit with a tie that matched his eyes.

"Holly, dearest. Open your eyes," he whispered, his lips tickling her ears as he spoke. "Wake up." 

The elf's eyes fluttered and her ear twitched, but she didn't open her eyes.

He pulled back and looked down at her. "Holly," Artemis said again.

Still nothing, so he decided to try a different method. Sighing, but suddenly smirking a little, Artemis leaned down and lowered his mouth to hers, brushing his lips over hers again in a chaste kiss.

Holly's eyes snapped open, her soldier senses kicking in and then fading as she realized who was above her. "Oh," she mumbled, yawning but still blushing. "Morning, Artemis."

"Good morning, Holly," Artemis replied, unable to contain a smug smirk. "Did you sleep well? It seemed like you were out cold."

"I usually sleep like the dead," Holly admitted. "Lately I've just been so stressed and afraid, I couldn't help but sleep lightly. I guess I feel a little bit better now, so some of the normalcy has returned to my sleep patterns." 

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better, but I'm also afraid we don't have time to celebrate. We have much to do still, and if you want breakfast before we get started, you need to tell me now."

"Mm..." Holly's eyes fluttered and her back arched off the bed as she yawned and stretched. Then she sat up and smiled at him, seemingly unaware of how much bigger than normal her eyes were, or how messy her red hair was as it sucked out in a frizzy frame around her face. Or, if she knew, she obviously didn’t care. “Okay, breakfast sounds good,” she agreed, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and getting to her feet next to him. “What are we having? And what exactly do we have to do? I mean, I know we have to call Root, but what else is there?”

“Well, I am not having anything except a glass of tea, because I ate before I woke you. I’m fairly certain that Butler has a fruit bowl still in the fridge from your lunch yesterday, so you can eat that for breakfast. As for the schedule, we have a lot to do. Obviously your leg and your side will need to be cleaned and have the bandages changed, and I’ll have to return your suit to you, among other things. I also still need to make the call to our old friend Commander Root, so I can get the arrangements made for him to come here for the switch instead of the site where I caught you, and possibly push back the time a bit to allow myself more time to finish getting things ready.”

Holly thought about that for a second, then shrugged. “Oh. Okay,” she agreed. “I take it you’ll want the jacket back when you give me my suit.” She gestured at herself, or more specifically her attire - she was still wearing his blue suit jacket, never having gotten her suit back after the waterboarding incident.

Artemis laughed softly. “If you really want it, you’re welcome to it, but I think I’d like to keep it, if you don’t mind,” he replied, smirking down at her and shaking his head. “It is mine, after all. It was only supposed to be on loan. Anyway, it will make a good reminder… once you’re gone, I mean.” He walked over to the door and opened it, gesturing for her to go out. 

Holly did, silently, thinking about that. “I do have to leave today, don’t I?”

“Well, you can’t stay,” Artemis muttered plaintively. “And I don’t quite see why you would want to, either.”

She looked up at him in surprise, but then shook her head and looked away. His words from the night before ran through her head before she could stop them: You never know what will happen tomorrow. If this night is all we can have... We need to take it, regardless of the repercussions. “Yeah,” Holly muttered, mostly to herself, but still loud enough that his human ears could pick it up if he was listening. “I guess I don’t either.”

He looked at her strangely, as if he heard her, but if he did, he didn’t comment on it. “Come,” he said again after a period of silence, offering his hand out to her. “Let’s get some food in you before things get too chaotic.”

Holly looked at him for a second, then her eyes flickered down to his outstretched hand. Suddenly, she had a very strong feeling that she was probably going to regret this, all of it, at a time not so far away in the future. But nonetheless, now she didn’t seem to have another choice, even if she hadn’t wanted to take his hand. So she merely placed her palm in his and let him lead her down the stairs again.


End file.
